I've been an educator since about 1971, first as a public school teacher in Seattle, then as a university professor and teacher educators. I retired from university work, but hope to have left a legacy where I have been.
I had the honor of serving as one of the initial planning faculty members that started California State University Monterey Bay in 1995, when it was in the process of shifting from a military base to a university. The program I worked with most intensively while at CSUMB was the Master of Arts in Education program, which my faculty colleagues and I designed to reflect and embody the principles and practices of multicultural and social justice education. Although the program no longer exists as we created it, our legacy is the students who completed the program and are carrying on its work locally and all over the country. Eight of the faculty members who worked designed and taught in the program published an article about our work in Excellence & Equity in Education.
A long-time active member and officer of the American Educational Research Association, I have been involved in numerous activities ranging from chairing the general program in 1998, to serving as a member of Council, to serving on journal editorial boards. I co-founded the special interest group Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Education, which is one of the largest SIGs in AERA now.
So, what am I working on now?
I currently serve as President of the National Association for Multicultural Education (2010-2012), and am working with a fabulous group of folks to continue to build and carry on the work of NAME. Not only do we put on a great conference every year, but NAME is taking on other issues as well. The main one currently is building an infrastructure to advocate for quality teaching of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. We are also expanding our electronic resources and connections, developing new chapters (I'm collaborating with colleague to develop a California chapter), putting a mentoring system into place, and taking public stands on issues we believe in.
As a former teacher educator, I've long valued publications that engage teachers with politically grounded multicultural (social justice) teaching. As a friend of Rethinking Schools, I help to raise money, occasionally review pieces for publication, and pitch in or support whenever I'm asked. As a friend of Teaching Tolerance, I occasionally contribute ideas or resources for the website. See "Talking Race," "Investigating Community Assets and Tips for Entering the Community," and sample lesson plan on "Mexican American Labor in the U.S." As a supporter of ethnic studies, I pitch in when asked, most recently writing a research review of the "Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies," published by the National Education Association.
I am on the board of a few projects that I believe in. One of them is Under Construction Network, which is the nonprofit sponsoring Oasis Public Charter School in Salinas, California. A school dedicated to developing democratic participation and inquiry, its students have also been doing quite well academically. Another project is Teach Cambodia, a nonprofit program dedicated to preparing elementary teachers in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I serve as both a formal and an informal consultant to the Deshkal Society of India, an organization dedicated to understanding, documenting and disseminating the fundamental problems of economic and cultural levels. I'm on the advisory committee of Partners for the Advancement of Teaching, which is a local professional development network that links culture, community, ecology-systems and arts-innovation. I just joined the advisor board of the Reach Center, located now in Bellingham, Washington.
And of course, I continue to write, speak, and consult. Those efforts are listed on other pages of my website. When I can manage to carve out the time, I'm continuing to plug away on my Critical Family History project. Check it out!
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