College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education
Associate Professor of English
Dr. Laura Barrio-Vilar is an associate professor of English in the School of Literary and Performing Arts at UA Little Rock. Barrio-Vilar has been praised for her commitment to inclusive learning in the classroom, work mentoring other teachers, and engaged pedagogy.
Barrio-Vilar has many examples of creating inclusive learning environments within the classroom. She has served on the Blackboard Ally team. Blackboard Ally is a tool that helps institutions understand their course shell’s accessibility. Barrio-Vilar’s work has helped make online courses more ADA accessible for students. She also received a Jumpstart Teaching award from the Provost Office at UA Little Rock for equity and inclusiveness in the classroom. Barrio-Vilar has also developed pedagogy to incorporate several social issues into her classes.
Barrio-Vilar developed classes that incorporate issues such as gender, race, LGBTQ+, and migration. Colleagues in her department have noted because of her work, the department has rethought their curriculum to include these issues. Several courses Barrio-Vilar has taught are slavery narratives, women in literature, and migration literature just to name a few. Barrio-Vilar’s work also extends beyond her own department.
For three and a half years, Barrio-Vilar served as a co-director for the UA Little Rock Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence (ATLE). The goal of ATLE is to foster excellence in teaching and learning through sharing ideas, collaborating, and building a strong community of engaged teachers and learners. With her time at ATLE, Barrio-Vilar did extensive teaching, mentoring and professional development leading sessions on gender, race, disability, and LGBTQ+ issues in the classroom to faculty of all disciplines.
Barrio-Vilar received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kentucky, a M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky, and a B.A. in English philology from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.