Collegiate Affiliation
Spanish & Portuguese Studies

Kathleen Ganley has been deeply involved in the Latino community for the last 35 years. She is a passionate activist for immigrant justice, has taught Spanish at the University of MN for the last 31 years, as well as taught ELL, developed numerous academic programs and classes, volunteered as a translator and interpreter, and has worked as a consultant to educators interested in integrating community engagement into their curricula. For the past 28 years, Kathleen has taught a course she developed entitled, “Latino Immigration and Community Engagement” in the Spanish and Portuguese Department at the University of Minnesota. Throughout this time, she has placed over 5000 students in community engagement work with Latino immigrants in the Twin Cities. Kathleen’s students also work each semester in developing a social action project that addresses current issues with Latino immigration. Kathleen has taken student groups to Peru, Guatemala and over each winter break takes a class to the US/Mexican border. Kathleen taught a community engagement course on educational disparities for 13 years in the Chicano & Latino Studies Department. Kathleen has a M.Ed. in Education and a M.A. in Hispanic Linguistics with a minor in Second Language and Culture Education. She currently resides on the West Side of St Paul, with her 4 chihuahuas, where she is involved with an economic equity project with WSCO (West Side Citizens Organization). She has a daughter, Isabel Flores-Ganley, that is a laywer working on low-income workers' rights.