Texas Tech University

Irma L. Almager, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Educational Psychology, Leadership, & Counseling

Email: irma.almager@ttu.edu

Phone: 806-834-0062

Office: Education 306

Irma L. Almager is an assistant professor in the Educational Psychology, Leadership, & Counseling Program at Texas Tech University. Her research focus is on the achievement of students of color and poverty through the development of culturally responsive, instructional leaders in both the masters and doctoral programs. Irma's main focus is on developing, through a social justice lens, strong instructional leaders who can grow and coach teachers individually and in teams through job-imbedded course work in the principal preparation program.

Through her engagement with district and school partnerships, Irma continues to explore her research interests and keep current with practices in the field. Specifically working with state accountability and assisting school districts with schools in need, she provides support for building capacity and “growing your own” leaders. To address district needs, Irma has also participated in writing, directing and coordinating multi-million dollar federal Innovative and Supporting Educator Excellence Development grants focusing on instructional leadership.

Irma utilizes her fifteen years of experience in public school education which includes five years as an elementary bilingual teacher and ten years in campus administration to seek and develop district and school partnerships.

Vita

Irma L. Almager

Education

  • 2009-2012, Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction, Texas Tech University
  • 1998-2000, M.Ed., Mid-Management, Sul Ross State University
  • 1991-1994 B.S., Multidisciplinary Studies, Texas Tech University
    • Supporting Areas of Emphasis: Endorsements in Bilingual, ESL & Spanish

Areas of Expertise

  • Instructional Leadership
  • Social Justice in Education
  • Latina Leadership
  • Latinx Student Achievement

Selected Publications

Almager, I., Mendez-Morse, S., Murakami, E. (2018). Voices of Texas Latina Principals. In Cristobal Lopez, Fernando Valle, and Melissa Martinez (Ed.), Latino/a Educational Pipeline. Information Age Publishing.

Murakami, E., Hernandez, F., Valle, F., Almager, I. (2018). Latina/o School Administrators and the Intersectionality of Professional Identity and Race. SAGE Open (SO-17-0188.R1).

Almager, I. (2017). Maribel's First Day. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Palmer, D., Almager, I., DeLeon, V., Valle, F., Gabro, M. C. (2017). Return on Investment: Grow Your Own Principal. Texas Association of School Administrators Professional Journal.

Almager, I. (2015). Harnessing White teachers' social wealth; A Latina principal's perspective. National Forum of Applied Educational Research Journal, 29, 46-53.

Valle, F., Almager, I., Molina, R., Claudet, J. G. (2015). Answering the call for 21st century instructional leadership: A case study of a school district and university job-embedded aspiring leaders partnership. Open Journal of Leadership, 4(3), 86-101.

Valle, F., Mendez-Morse, S., Almager, I., Cota, M. (2015). “Latina/o faculty engagement in espacios de confianza: Where cultural capital and community wealth permeate.”. In Frank Hernandez, Gloria Rodriguez, & Elizabeth Murakami (Ed.), Abriendo Puertas, Cerrando Heridas (Opening Doors, Closing Wounds): Latinas/os Finding Work-Life Balance in Academia. (pp. 245-256). Information Age Publishing.

Almager, I. (1999). West Texas tumbleweed Christmas. In Marilyn CovingtonA Texas Christmas. (p. 56).Englewood, CO: Westcliff Publishers.