Sofía Yazpik

PhD Candidate in History at UCLA specializing in Pre-Hispanic Americas, Colonial Mexico, and Western Europe. Focus on Indigenous art, legal systems in New Spain, and pictorial rhetoric in colonial codices. Extensive museum and archival research experience with fluency in Spanish, English, and Modern Huasteca Nahuatl.

Graduate Teaching Assistant - UCLA - Los Angeles, California

(2023-09 - 2025-12)

Taught 60 undergraduate students per quarter across high-enrollment introductory surveys and specialized upper-division seminars. Prepared discussion content, contextualized lectures, and examined primary and secondary sources from a range of courses, including social, cultural, and intellectual histories of colonial and modern Latin America and early modern Europe. Rigorously focused on research and analytical writing, providing students with in-depth feedback, discussion, and line edits to improve critical thinking and writing skills.

• HIST 8A, Colonial Latin America, Fall 2025
• HIST 2C, The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics and Witches, Summer 2025
• HIST 8C, Contemporary Latin American Film and Culture, Spring 2025
• HIST 161, The Mexican Revolution, Winter 2025
• HIST 1B, Introduction to Western Civilization: Circa 843 to circa 1715, Fall 2024
• HIST 2C, The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics and Witches, Spring 2024
• HIST 8B, Modern Latin America, Winter 2024
• HIST 8A, Colonial Latin America, Fall 2023

Graduate Assistant to Head Editor - Hispanic American Historical Review Journal

(2026-01 - 2026-08)

• Researched and wrote blogs on published journal articles and endangered archives
• Conducted interviews for scholars' published works
• Updated HAHR website to incorporate alternative text descriptions

Museum Staff/Team Leader - The Contemporary Austin Museum of Art - Austin, Texas

(2019-01 - 2022-12)

• Translated texts from English to Spanish for the Curatorial and Education departments
• Team leader in coordinating events and performances
• Marketed and sold museum memberships and merchandise
• Responsible for onboarding new employees
• Front-line expert for facilitating exceptional visitor experience

Curatorial Intern - Mexic-Arte Museum - Austin, Texas

(2021-06 - 2021-08)

Worked directly with the curator on exhibitions showcasing Indigenous traditions in the Americas.

• Researched and created didactic labels focused on providing ethnographic histories for exhibitions

Intern at Mesoamerica Center - UT Austin Pre-Hispanic Art Collection - Austin, Texas

(2018-01 - 2019-12)

Worked with the assistant director on organizing and cataloguing Indigenous collections.

• Responsible for organizing, cataloguing, and archiving Andean ceramics and textiles from different communities in Guatemala
• Created an accessible bibliographic digital library for future scholars researching the textiles collection
• Assisted with events related to the Mesoamerica Center, including the Maya Meetings
• Coordinated for K'iche' Maya-language class to view the collection, allowing the Nahualá instructor and his wife to discuss their town-specific weaving traditions

Intern at Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery - Galleria Russo - Rome, Italy

(2018-06 - 2018-08)

• Assisted with installing exhibitions, cataloguing artworks, and transporting artworks for restoration
• Responsible for translating artist biographies, artwork labels, and gallery website from Italian to English

Undergraduate Curatorial Intern - The Blanton Museum of Art, Department of Latin American Art - Austin, Texas

(2016-09 - 2017-12)

Worked with the curator and assistant curator on exhibition research and archival work.

• Compiled, expanded, and archived files from past exhibitions and showcased artists
• Underwent art historical research to write artist biographies and artwork labels for upcoming exhibitions
• Contacted museums in Latin America to provide further archival information regarding exhibitions and artists

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant - UT Austin - Austin, Texas

(2017-09 - 2017-12)

• ART HIST, UGS, Fall 2017

PhD - History - University of California, Los Angeles (2022-09)

MA - History - University of California, Los Angeles (2025-06)

Certificate - Early Modern Studies - University of California, Los Angeles (2022-09 - 2023-06)

BA - Art History - University of Texas at Austin (2015-09 - 2018-05)

Austin Community College (2014-09 - 2015-05)