Our #newtoACC series welcomes new faculty to our Austin Community College Riverbat family.

Meet Kristina Elizondo, ACC’s new Art Professor!

What courses are you currently teaching?

Art History I (ARTS 1303) and Art Appreciation (ARTS 1301)

Three words that best describe you?

Organized, reliable, curious

What inspired you to apply to teach at Austin Community College?

I just relocated to central Texas from Fort Worth, and I was very excited when an Art History faculty position opened up at ACC. For the past ten years, I’ve taught Art History at Tarrant County College, and during that time I really began to identify as a community college educator. There is something special about teaching at the community college—I love the diversity of our students and of their experiences.

What’s your educational background?

I have a BA in Art History from the University of North Texas, a MA in Art History from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a Ph.D. in Art Education (emphasis on art museum studies) from the University of North Texas. As an undergraduate, I changed my major about five times, but once I found the discipline of art, I knew it was the right fit and now it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.

ACC values diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an instructor, how do you create a classroom culture that intentionally welcomes and supports students from different racial/ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds?

Art History and Art Appreciation curriculum naturally lend themselves to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It hasn’t always been that way, but our textbooks have been getting better and better over the last couple of decades by including more and more art and artists from diverse backgrounds and with diverse points of view. I still do a lot of additional research and instructional planning to make sure that I am being inclusive in representing a balanced variety of art and artists of different cultures, religions, genders, abilities, etc. It’s exciting to be able to feature art and history from around the world because many of our students see themselves represented in the course.

If you could take any ACC class, what would you take?

Somehow, I never took a Philosophy course as an undergraduate, so I would start with that. I would also really enjoy taking some of the hands-on, creative courses at ACC. I would love to take courses in the Culinary department, like some of the Baking and Pastry courses that focus on Breads and Rolls, or Pies, Tarts, Teacakes, and Cookies. I would also love to take some refresher courses in Studio Art, which I took when I was an undergraduate. Ceramics, Figure Drawing, Graphic Design, and Printmaking are all courses I enjoyed, learned a lot from, and would definitely like to revisit.

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?

Outside of work I love to cook and bake, watch classic films, and take weekend road trips around Texas with my partner. It’s not a hobby per se, but I spend a lot of time taking care of my two elderly chihuahuas, one of whom is blind, deaf, and diabetic and needs a lot of constant care. You would never know by looking at him that he’s an older dog, because he is quite feisty and he wakes up every morning happy and ready to go!

Welcome Kristina Elizondo to ACC!

Post a comment below or email Kristina Elizondo at kristina.elizondo@austincc.edu.