Mrs. Baley has been teaching for 25+ years, both at the high school and college level. Prior to coming to LASA, she taught at San Juan Diego Catholic High School, St. Edward's University, UT Austin, Texas State, and UNLV.  She has taught everything from Rhetoric and Composition to American History to Shakespeare to Introduction to Acting, as well as all grade levels of high school English.  She has a Bachelors and Masters in English from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and an MFA in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin.

When not teaching, Mrs. Baley is probably wandering around her garden, admiring her flowers and talking to the lizards, butterflies, and hummingbirds. She also loves geeking out about everything Disney and Broadway, reading (especially science fiction and fantasy, but really she's not picky), laughing with friends, diamond painting, baking, playing with her tiny fuzzy dog named Annie, talking to (and trying not to embarrass) her two daughters, (lovingly) yelling at her three cats, and watching bad TV with her husband.

Mr. Burford graduated from Rice University, where he specialized in Shakespearean literature and performance. He first learned to read and write from playing text-based computer role-playing games as a young boy, and his love of all the non-athletic games (video games, role-playing games, and board games) continues to this day. He enjoys finding modern connections in ancient texts and hopes that his students will find their own versions of that joy as well.

In the year of our Lord 1995 and in the throws of youthful hubris, I declared that I would never be a teacher. I am extremely grateful for my 17 years as a teacher. I truly love it. I am new to Austin and very much look forward to my Austin adventure. I have two children (23 and 22) and two dogs (10 and 5)

Hello there! My name is Ms. Lange (pronounced like the ""lang"" in language)! 
I received my Bachelor's degree from UT Austin in English with a minor in UTeach Liberal-Arts. Hook 'em! 

A little about me: In my free time, I can be found reading; working on any handful of crafts, such as journaling, collaging, making earrings, drawing, etc; or making a cup of iced coffee to sip on while watching a TV show. (Please give me any recommendations; I'm all ears!) Listening to music is a favorite activity of mine as well, especially as the soundtrack to my cooking ventures, and despite living in Austin for a couple of years now, I am still always on the lookout for new places to explore!

I look forward to growing and learning from you all and with you all! Let's have a wonderful year!

Prior to coming to LASA, she taught English I and IV at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin and at Validus Preparatory Academy in the South Bronx. She's also taught and TAed for American Studies courses at the University of Texas, worked with Breakthrough Central Texas, and led citizenship classes through the Austin Public Library. All together, she's taught and worked with middle school, high school, college level, and adult students!

Dr. Pinkston received a BA in American Studies and English at Northwestern University and a Masters in English Education from Lehman College in New York. Prior to joining the LASA faculty, she earned a PhD in American Studies at UT Austin. American Studies is an interdisciplinary field encompassing all aspects of American history and culture; Dr. Pinkston's research focused on education history and policy, as well as cultural memory (or how we remember and make sense of the past). She'd love to talk to you about any of that - or about her other primary interests: Harry Potter, the Bachelor, and the San Antonio Spurs.

Dr. Pinkston lives in Austin with her husband, who is also a teacher. She loves reading, running (very slowly), and hanging out with her two poorly-behaved dogs, Thelma and Ruth.

I have been teaching at LASA since 2006.

I was born in Indiana and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. I came to Austin in 1995 to attend UT. In 2000 I graduated from University of Texas Austin with a BA in English and a teaching certificate.
From 2000 to 2007 I taught English at McCallum High School at a variety of grades and levels. In the fall of 2007 I joined LASA.
I now teach AP English Language and Composition and two electives, How To Be An Adult and Songwriting. Every spring the Songwriting class produces Coffeehouse, a live music festival featuring LASA student performers. I formerly taught English I and English II at LASA as well as the elective Music and Revolution. From 2013-2017 I was head coach of the LBJ Tennis team.
I enjoy music, reading, and being outdoors.

Mr. Sully graduated from the University of Oregon in 2006 with degrees in journalism and political science.

He has spent most of his professional career in the classroom, teaching at high schools in Los Angeles and Austin. He enjoys reading, running, coaching basketball and spending time with his family.  

Christina Swan started working at LASA in 2006. These days, she teaches AP English IV and Creative Writing. Christina earned her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Dallas, then moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where she earned her master’s degree. She knows a weird amount about Classical Greece for someone with no degree in the subject, but her actual area of specialization is Poetry and Poetics. Ms. Swan loves Shakespeare and Toni Morrison, but also Avatar: The Last Airbender and X-men. She is unhealthily deep into the Star Wars fandom. When not teaching, Ms. Swan is usually writing or parenting her two children. (“Parenting” = driving them to soccer practice and telling them to feed the cats.) Ms. Swan is a terrible seamstress, a mediocre swimmer, a pretty good writer, and an excellent reader. If you see her in the hallways at LASA, she will be sipping tea. This is not a metaphor—she just likes tea. And chocolate with sea salt. And breakfast tacos. Yes, she will help you with your college application essay.

I love teaching and have been a teacher since 2002. When I'm not teaching, I love hanging out with my wife in Austin, trying out new restaurants, going to book and record stores, walking/jogging around the trail at Lady Bird Lake, and hiking/camping. 

In 1997, I moved to Austin from Fort Worth to go to college at the University of Texas at Austin. I was hired by AISD to work at Anderson High School to teach English. Although I didn't do speech and debate in high school or college, I became the head coach of the Anderson Speech and Debate Team.

When I began coaching, the Anderson team had around six active participants. By the time I left Anderson in 2015, the team had grown to more than 75 members. I moved from Anderson to Westlake High School to teach English and build the speech and debate team. When I was hired at Westlake, the Westlake Speech and Debate Team consisted of around 25 members. When I left Westlake in 2021, the team had grown to more than 70 members. 
 
My wife and I moved up to the D/FW area in 2022 and I taught for one year at Western Hills High School and three years at Flower Mound High School. Although I enjoyed my time in D/FW, I am looking forward to new adventures in Austin.

As a 2019 graduate, I am delighted to be back at LASA as a teacher! I graduated from Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin) in 2023 with a Bachelors of Arts in Spanish Language after spending a semester abroad in Salamanca, Spain. I now teach in the English Department, but started my career teaching Spanish at LASA and English as a Second Language at ACC. When I’m not teaching, I enjoy taking care of my many house plants, reading & writing, experimenting with new recipes,  singing with friends in a community choir, and spending time with my family in San Antonio & Austin!

Ms. Welin is a St. Louis, Missouri native who first fell in love with education during her own high school experience. Her best teachers not only pushed her to think deeply, but also helped her to develop a personal connection to literature, creating the foundation for her passion for education and social justice. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Language Arts Education, and a minor in art and multicultural studies. She taught in Phoenix, Arizona for two years before moving to Austin in 2018 where she has continued teaching since. In her free time, she loves biking, hiking, playing tennis, going to Alamo Drafthouse, and most importantly, snuggling with her two dogs. She would love to talk to you about art, pets, and really good and really bad TV shows.

I am in my sixteenth year of teaching. I have been an AP reader for AP Language and Composition since 2017.

I am an Austin native who graduated from McCallum High School in 2003. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri and my graduate studies at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO. In my free time, I like to discover new (to me) independently owned bookstores, engage in arts and crafts, and ""chase stadiums"" with my husband. Our current count is seventeen MLB ballparks and two NHL arenas. We have an orange cat named Buddy who keeps us on our toes.

I am always on the lookout for my newest book recommendation, so please feel free to share a recommendation with me!