Directory

Carol Brochin

Carol Brochin

We The People Co-Director

Co-Director Dr. Carol Brochin is an associate professor of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies focusing on bilingual and multicultural teacher preparation. She worked as a middle school and high school literature teacher and served as a teacher-consultant with the National Writing Project (NWP). She is the director of the Southern Arizona Writing Project. She received grant funding from Humanities Texas in partnership with NEH to provide PD for teachers to use Mexican American and Borderlands literature in K-12 classrooms. 

Leah Durán

Leah Durán

We The People Co-Director

Co-Director Dr. Leah Durán is an associate professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, who taught in elementary ESL and bilingual classrooms. She teaches courses on children's literature, language development and literacy instruction and provides bimonthly professional development to mentor teachers and pre-service teachers. As a scholar, she works with in-service teachers to engage in inquiry-based design research related to literacy teaching. She coordinates a local outreach program called Wildcat Literacy Studio which pairs pre-service teachers with children in Tucson public schools.

Kathy Short

We The People Co-Director

Co-Director Kathy G. Short is a professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies with an expertise in global children’s and adolescent literature and is Director of Worlds of Words. She has experience as an elementary teacher and reading specialist and her research focuses on curriculum development with global literature in K-12 classrooms. As director of Worlds of Words, she organizes professional learning opportunities for educators and travels extensively to work with K-12 teachers around the world.  She is past president of the National Council of Teachers of English and of the United States Board of Books for Young People.

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Richelle Vargas

We the People Coordinator

Coordinator Richelle Vargas is a doctoral student who is working with the co-directors in all aspects of the project, including the recruitment and application process and day-to-day logistics during the seminar. She is the contact person for applicants and participants.

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Angelica Serrano

We the People K-12 Teacher Leader

Teacher Leader Angelica Serrano is a bilingual elementary teacher at a public school in Tucson that serves Latinx children. As part of the planning team, she focuses on how the seminar can capitalize on the experiences and needs of K-12 educators.  

Luis Carlos Davis

Dr. Luis Carlos Davis is an award-winning director/producer of documentaries and teaches media studies at Nogalas High School. He has won multiple awards for his documentaries and frequently leads workshops on storytelling through film. 

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Michael Engs

Dr. Michael Engs engages in research on the contributions of African-American communities to Arizona and works with projects at the Dunbar Pavilion African American Arts and Cultural Center. 

Patricia Preciado Martin

Patricia Preciado Martin is an oral historian who developed the Mexican Heritage Project at the Arizona Historical Society and authored many award-winning books of oral history and short stories on Mexican-American communities. 

Alyce Sadongei

Alyce Sadongei

Alyce Sadongei (Kiowa/Tohono O'odham), Project Coordinator of the American Indian Language Development Institute at the University of Arizona, has a career history of working with Native American arts and culture. She worked at the Arizona State Museum on tribal libraries, archives and museums and at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution where she developed outreach programs. 

Tom Sheridan

Thomas Sheridan

Dr. Thomas Sheridan is a Distinguished Outreach Professor and Research Anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at The Southwest Center and School of Anthropology, University of Arizona. His book, Arizona: A History provides the institute framework of historical time periods. Sheridan has conducted ethnographic and ethnohistoric research in the Southwest and northern Mexico since 1971. He directed the Mexican Heritage Project at the Arizona Historical Society and the Office of Ethnohistorical Research at the Arizona State Museum.

Anita Huizar-Hernandez, female, dark curly hair, wearing eye glasses and yellow blouse

Anita Huizar-Hernández

Dr. Anita Huizar-Hernández is Associate Professor of Border Studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona. Born and raised in Arizona, her teaching and research focus on the literatures and cultures of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and investigate the ways that stories—past, present, and future—shape our ability to cultivate just and inclusive communities within the borderlands. 

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Julie Kasper

Julie Kasper is the program manager of the Refugee Educator Academy at the Center for Learning in Practice, which supports teachers working with students and families of refugee backgrounds in resettlement and displacement contexts. She is also a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) and a Graduate Fellow at the University of Arizona. Julie’s research focuses on curriculum and program design, teacher professional learning, and teacher and youth leadership development in relation to refugee education and culturally and linguistically diverse learners. 

Joan Sandin

Joan Sandin

Joan Sandin is the author/illustrator of Celebrate Arizona! and Coyote School News as well as a series of books about Scandinavian immigrant experiences in the U.S.  In addition, she is a translator of literature from Swedish to English.