Dr. Leslie Ramos Salazar

I began my journey in education during my master's program in communication at Cal State University, Long Beach, where I had the opportunity to teach public speaking and interpersonal communication classes as a graduate student. That's when I discovered my passion for being an educator and professor. After working as a part-time instructor at Cal State University, Long Beach, I decided to pursue a PhD because I wanted to continue teaching at the higher education level, working with adult students aged 18 or higher, rather than at the community college level. I also worked part-time at Arizona State University during this period. Today, I'm a full professor of business communication and decision management at West Texas A&M University, where I've been in the field for 13 years. I teach three main areas: business communication classes that prepare students to write business reports for industry, business statistics focusing on critical thinking and Excel spreadsheets, and healthcare communication for healthcare managers who want to become CEOs in hospitals or managers in the healthcare industry. I serve as an advisor for Alpha, the Association of Latino Professionals for America, a big national organization whose goal is to empower Hispanic students in business to become industry leaders in Fortune 500 companies. I'm also deeply involved in research, writing books, textbooks, and research reports for academic journals and applied practitioner research. Last year, I received the Magister Optimist award at West Texas A&M University, which means 'master teacher' or 'best teacher' in Latin. This is the biggest teaching award a professor can have in their career, and it recognized my devotion and dedication to my students, my positive impact in their lives and professional lives, and my role as a mentor to them.