Thais Díaz Montalvo received a B.A. in Hispanic Studies and a J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.A. in Hispanic Studies from Brown University. Before coming to Rice, she worked as Spanish Instructor at the University of Richmond. There she also directed the Spanish Community Based Learning Program and Summer Study Abroad Program at the University of Blas Pascal in Argentina. Before that, she was a lecturer at Washington College and James Madison University.

Throughout her career, she has taught all language levels in addition to courses such as “Human Rights and Arts in Latin America,” “Spanish in Politics, Society and Human Rights in Latin America,” and “Spanish in Law and Justice,” where she has been fortunate to combine her interdisciplinary academic and professional background.

She is interested in second language acquisition, content-based language instruction, service learning, human rights education, and Spanish for the Professions.