Summer Institute 2009: Dr. Peter McLaren

Hero Award and Top Ten Scholar 

Dr. Roberto Bahruth and Jessica Verbanac 

The Department of Bilingual Education has been honored by being recipients of two awards. The first is the Hero Award, given to Dr. Roberto Bahruth, chair of the Department. This award is designed to honor students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to service that support the strategic vision for Boise State University and the mission of the Boise State University Cultural Center.

The second award, the Top Ten Scholar Award was given to Jessica Verbanac, who is graduating from elementary education with a focus on Bilingual/ESL. The Top Ten Scholars are chosen from the top ten percent of Boise State's graduating class. They are selected based on academic performance, recommendations from college deans, and club and research activities. Jessica became president of BESO, the Bilingual Education Department’s academic organization. Her desire to help children become lifelong learners has inspired her academic studies and volunteer work. She studied abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she volunteered at a local public elementary school, giving advanced English instruction to migrant students. As a member of AmeriCorps, Verbanac worked at Jefferson Elementary School as a reading and math tutor and translated for meetings between staff and parents. From 2007-09, she was awarded the Grow Your Own Teacher stipend and worked as an ESL tutor at Whittier Elementary. Congratulations!!!

MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CONFERENCE 2009

March 5th, 7pm

Keynote: Dr. Rudolfo Chavez 

Where? Chavez Liberal Arts Room 106, Boise State University

March 6th, 8.30 am 

Keynotes: Dr. Herman Garcia and Dr. Alma Gomez 

Where? Nampa Cultural Center (315 Stampede Dr., Nampa)

March 7th, 9am 

Keynote: Dr. Roberto Maestas 

Where? Nampa Cultural Center (315 Stampede Dr., Nampa)

For more information check Schedule and Detailed break out sessions

BESO Guest Speaker: Dr. Luis Huerta

Dr Luis Huerta was invited by the Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO) to conduct a presentation on Emergent Writer's Biliteracy on November 14th at the Farnsworth Room at the Student Union Building. Dr. Luis Huerta is an Assistant Professor in Early Childhood and Bilingual Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education at New Mexico State University. His research focus is on participatory action research and early biliteracy development in the borderland. Last semester, he was researching in a bilingual kindergarten setting right on border of El Paso, TX-Juarez, MX. His research analyzes kinder bilingual children’s transference hypothesis. He also analyzed the pedagogy of teachers working with bilingual immigrant students in the borderland. He has published articles, encyclopedia entries and co-edited a book with Marc Pruyn regarding Peter McLaren’ oeuvre. Right now, he is writing a chapter for a book on critical pedagogy and editing a book on international comparative studies on early childhood curricula from different countries.

Honorable Mention at Examples of Excelencia 2008

Faculty and staff of the Bilingual Department during graduate students ceremony

The Department of Billingual Education has been awarded with an honorable mention at the Examples of Excelencia 2008, organized by Excelencia in Education. This organization aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students by providing data-driven analysis of the educational status of Latino students and by promoting education policies and institutional practices that support their academic achievement. The Examples of Excelencia award is an initiative that identifies and honors programs that are in the forefront of increasing achievement for Latino students in higher education. 

As an honorable mention the Bilingual Education Department’s profile will be included in the 2008 edition of What Works for Latino Students: Examples of Excelencia Compendium. The 2008 Compendium will be distributed widely later this year through an electronic dissemination to Excelencia’s over 13,000 constituents and key educational organizations and policy leaders will receive printed copies. Further, as an honorable mention our Department is now part of Excelencia’s national campaign to promote the use of effective institutional practices with real evidence of supporting greater numbers of Latino students earning higher educational degrees. 

The award ceremony will be held in Houston, Texas on Tuesday, September 23rd

Special Guest Summer Institute 2008                       

Dr. Donaldo Macedo

Donaldo Macedo is a full professor of English and a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is the Graduate Program Director of the Applied Linguistics Masters of Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He has published extensively in the areas of linguistics, critical literacy, and bilingual and multicultural education. His publications include: Literacy: Reading the Word and the World, Literacies of Power: What Americans Are Not Allowed to Know, Dancing With Bigotry, Critical Education in the New Information Age, Chomsky on Miseducation, Ideology Matters, among others.

This summer Dr. Macedo is leading the ED-BLESL 497/597 special topics course "The Hegemony of English or Critical Citizenship". This course addresses arguments in favor of the promotion of equitable education experience for all learners and problematizes current educational practices and research designed for dehumanization. 

Class dates: July 21st-25th, 2008                                                                                                    

Class times: 5pm-8pm                                                                                                            

Location: Lookout Room SUB

News & Important Events

Master Graduates Fall 2007 Congratulations!

Special Guest Speaker: Christine Sleeter

Christine Sleeter, a leading voice in antiracist multicultural Education was invited by the Bilingual Education Department to conduct presentations for graduate, undergraduate students, and faculty members on September 4 and 5 2007 at the Student Union.  The titles of her talks were: “Critical Family History and Historical Memory, “Intellectually Challenging Teaching in Multicultural Classrooms” and “Teaching for Democracy in an Age of Corporatocracy".