Dr. Eliza Braden

Mentor: Aria Razfar

Dr. Eliza Braden is Assistant Professor in Elementary Education in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina. She currently teaches literacy methods courses in the Elementary Education program. Her research interests include critical language and literacy practices of culturally and linguistically diverse young children (i.e., African American and Latinx children), family literacy, social justice education, and digital literacy. Dr. Braden’s work has been published in English Journal, Language Arts Journal of Michigan, and Journal of Language and Literacy Education.

Dr. Kisha Bryan

Mentor: Jamal Cooks

Dr. Kisha Bryan is Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching & Learning at Tennessee State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in ESL/Bilingual Education from The University of Florida. Her research focuses on Black immigrants; the role of language, literacy, and racial ideologies in immigrant identity construction; and media literacy for diverse populations. Dr. Bryan has been named amongst TESOL International Association’s 30 Up and Coming. She is a contributing author in Cultivating Achievement, Respect, and Empowerment (CARE) for African American Girls in PreK-12 Settings (2016) and has published in NCTE’s Voices from the Middle (2017) and English Journal (2016).

Dr. Delicia Greene

Mentor: Antero Garcia

Dr. Delicia Tiera Greene is Assistant Professor of Digital Literacies in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning in the School of Education at the University at Albany- State University of New York (SUNY). She earned her Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology with a specialization in Literacy, Language, and Culture from The School of Information Studies (The iSchool) at Syracuse University.Dr. Greene’s research focuses on enhancing teaching and learning for literacy educators, school librarians, and students in the urban secondary digital literacy contexts. As an emerging scholar, Dr. Greene’s work and academic excellence have been recognized and supportive by fellowships and grant awards, such as the Ronald E. McNair University Dissertation Fellows Award, the Institute of Museum and Library Services Doctoral Fellows Award, AERA Division K Early Career Travel Award, and NCTE Conference on English Education Cultural Diversity Award.

Dr. Stephanie P. Jones

Mentor: Danny Martínez

Dr. Stephanie P. Jones is Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. She obtained her Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Education from the University of Georgia. Dr. Jones currently teaches foundational courses in education and specialized courses in critical literacy, young adult literature, and English education methods. Her research examines the ways in which racial trauma is taken up specifically in English language arts classrooms, with an emphasis on creating intersectional pedagogies and curriculums that prioritize collective and cultural memory.

Dr. Gilberto Lara

Mentor: Grace Enriquez

Gilberto P. Lara is Assistant Professor of Bilingual and Literacy Studies at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, TX. He received his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Bilingual/Bicultural Education. His research focuses on the language, literacy and pedagogical practices of teachers in dual language classrooms, in particular, focusing on critical literacy through the use of multicultural children’s literature. His work seeks to make connections for the preparation of future teachers as it pertains to educating emergent bilinguals and students of color. His research has been published in the Bilingual Research Journal.

Dr. Alice Lee

Mentor: Carmen Kynard

Dr. Alice Y. Lee is Assistant Professor of Elementary Literacy in the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and taught grades K through 7 for over eight years. Her research theorizes about the role of teacher knowledge in pedagogy through her development of “Teachers as Embodied Toolkits” as a conceptual lens. She employs this framework to critically understand how teachers embody race and language, particularly African American Language. Her work also explores the ways teachers manifest themselves in pedagogy.

Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica

Mentor: P. Zitlali (Lali) Morales

Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica is Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Santa Clara University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies & Teacher Education from Stanford University. Her scholarly interests focus on supporting emergent bilinguals’ access to academic content through instructional supports and scaffolds and bilingual instruction. She also studies the experiences of preservice teachers of color in their teacher education program and, specifically, in their literacy courses. Dr. Rodriguez-Mojica currently teaches literacy, English language development, and bilingual teacher preparation courses.

Dr. Patriann Smith

Mentor: Ramón Martínez

Dr. Patriann Smith is Assistant Professor of Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University. Dr. Smithintegrates her teaching and research to advocate for literacy instruction and assessment that better reflects how English language ideologies and cross-cultural factors impact the literacies of (Caribbean and African) immigrant speakers of non-standardized English(es) across K-12 and university contexts. Her awards and recognitions include the International Reading Association’s Reading Hall of Fame Young Scholar (2013-2017) and the American Educational Research Association’s Language and Social Processes SIG Emerging Scholar (2015) awards./span>