Faculty in the Division of Education & Leadership have continued to present research at virtual conferences this fall, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Maria Dantas-Whitney, a professor of ESOL/Bilingual Education and coordinator of WOU’s Bilingual Teacher Scholars Program, led the project “CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and Technologies for Teachers.” Sponsored by the United States Embassy in Brazil, the project involved a series of virtual workshops for over 100 pre- and in-service teachers from three different universities in Brazil over a five-week period in September and October, in addition to asynchronous learning activities, materials and resources.

Dr. Kenneth Carano, a professor and programs coordinator for the Center for Geography Education in Oregon, will be presenting at the Oregon Civics Conference in early December. Dr. Carano will be presenting on how to teach about tribal sovereignty in a virtual presentation that will include module of interviews with a local tribal member on best practices for K-12 educators partnering with their local tribal community, videos on teaching tribal sovereignty on a giant Oregon floor map and a non-Indigenous educator’s guide of do’s and don’ts for teaching Indigenous resources.

Dr. Shari Hopkins is presenting two virtual sessions at the TASH Annual Conference. TASH, an international leader in disability advocacy, is holding its conference in early December. Dr. Hopkins will be on a panel to discuss interviewing for faculty positions and will present a poster on state policies that impact inclusive higher education.

Dr. Yuliana Kenfield, an assistant professor, will present at the Literacy Research Association’s annual conference in December. Dr. Kenfield will present a talk called “Unpacking the Sociolinguistic Crossroad of Bilingual Educators: Critical Dialogues in Teacher Preparation,” in which she will share the initial results of her research involving bilingual pre-service teachers. Dr. Kenfield’s study involved examining how bilingual teachers’ sociolinguistics experiences inform, transform, or reproduce certain linguistic ideologies around bilingualism, bi-culturalism, and bi-literacy, bi-numeracy as educators.

Dr. Kristen L. Pratt, an assistant professor, will also present at the Literacy Research Association conference. Dr. Pratt serves as co-chair of the Multilingual and Transnational Innovative Community Group. She also serves as a field council representative for Oregon and Washington. At the conference, Dr. Pratt will chair an invited symposium titled “Multilingualism in the context of English hegemony: Current policy, theory and practice,” with Drs. Bogum Yoon, Rachele Lawton and Ryuko Kubota. Dr. Pratt will also cohost daily study sessions discussing “Border Realities as Assets for Fostering Transliteracies, Multiculturalism, and Multilingualism,” with Drs. Allison Skerrett and G. Sue Kasun.

“I continue to be impressed by the active research agenda of all of our faculty in the Division of Education and Leadership; they are continuing important scholarly pursuits that directly impact and improve the experiences of students and teachers in Pk-12 schools,” said Dr. Marie LeJeune, professor and chair of the Division of Education & Leadership.

The Division of Education & Leadership congratulates these faculty on bringing their important research to a wider audience.