María Dolores Gonzales

María Dolores Gonzales (born 1946) is a Mexican-American author and educator, and advocate for bilingual education in the US. She is a scholar in the realm of bilingual studies and linguistic history of the American Southwest. She taught at University of New Mexico for 12 years as a professor and was head of the Sabine Ulibarrí Spanish Heritage Program, and after retiring established the Spanish immersion program, Bilingual Strategies. Her programs advocate for the revitalization of New Mexican Spanish and dialectical awareness to connect Spanish speakers with their heritage, in order to reverse the damage of Spanish and US colonialism.

Early life and education Gonzales was born to Canuto and Carlotta Gonzales, Jr. Her family migrated from Zacatecas, Mexico in the mid-16th century. Gonzales was born one year later in 1946. When she began the program, it was limited to four sections and four teaching assistants. By the time she retired, the program had grown to include 23 sections, 11 graduate students, and an assistant director.

Gonzales began a writing group in 2016, Nuestras Voces Chicanas, which brings together bilingual women from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado to share their stories, as they have been historically marginalized by traditional publishing companies.

Personal life She is married with two children. She moved to Taos in 2015. She also participated in the National Hispanic Culture Center in Albuquerque, by portraying the character of Ultima from Rudolfo Anaya's novel Bless Me, Ultima. She led visitors on a tour of the Center while in character.

Selected published works Gonzales, M. D. 1992. The role of women in linguistic tradition and innovation in a chicano community in New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico dissertation. Gonzales, M. D., & Galindo, D. L. (1999). Speaking Chicana : voice, power, and identity. University of Arizona Press. Gonzales, M. D. (2005). Todavia decimos' nosotros [los] mexicanos': construction of identity labels among nuevo mexicanos. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 24(1-2), 65-78. Gonzales, M. D. (2020). Atop the Windmill: I Could See Forever. Lithexcel. Gonzales, M. D. (2021). "Chicana voices, las rucas rebeldes: a tribute to D. Letticia Galindo (1952-1998)." Gender and Language, 15(3), 1–. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20886