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School of Education earns nine community-engaged scholarship grants

Hannah Fletcher — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 01:10:43 +0000

School of Education earns nine community-engaged scholarship grants Hannah Fletcher Mon, 12/29/2025 - 18:10

The Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) awarded funding for nine School of Education faculty projects advancing rigorous, community-engaged scholarship serving Colorado and beyond:

Aquetza Leadership, Education, and Community Empowerment Program (Enrique Lopez)
CU Children’s Book Festival 2025 (Adam Crawley)
Creating a Colorado-based Coalition for LGBTQ+ Educators (Elizabeth Meyer, Bethy Leonardi & Sara Staley)
Caminos: Adams-12 School Board Multilingual Student Advisory Council (Deb Palmer & Michelle Renée Valladares)
Equitable Facilitation in Boulder’s Community Assembly (Leah Sprain & Roudy Hildreth)
Mentor Advisory Boards: Bridging Gaps in Teacher Preparation (Karla Scornavacco)
The RAP Lab: Partnership with Denver Public Schools (Kalonji Nzinga & Shawn O’Neal)
WFIQ: Rural Colorado Wildfire Inquiry Program Development (Daniel Knight, Michael Hannigan & Joe Polman)
Youth Participatory Teacher Education: Youth Teaching Future Teachers (AJ Schiera & Ashley Cartun)

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Get to know our newest faculty members

Hannah Fletcher — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 01:33:57 +0000

Get to know our newest faculty members Hannah Fletcher Sun, 12/28/2025 - 18:33

This year, the CU Boulder School of Education welcomed our newest faculty members, who bring a variety of experiences and enhance our community of educators and learners. Learn more about them below, and please join us in continuing to welcome them to our school and community.

Adria Padilla-Chávez is an assistant teaching professor in equity, bilingualism and biliteracy and elementary education.

She grew up in various neighborhoods throughout and around Denver, eventually graduating from Denver Public Schools. She received her BS in bilingual elementary education from the University of New Mexico in 2002, and an MA in culturally and linguistically diverse education from the BUENO Center in 2005. Padilla-Chávez has taught in public schools situated in immigrant, Latinx and Chicanx communities for more than 20 years, from Pre-K to 12th grade. She has dedicated her career to advocating for the cultural, linguistic and educational rights of her students. This advocacy led her to the PhD program at CU Boulder in learning sciences and human development. Her dissertation, “Buscando la Luz: Children’s Expressions of Dignity in a Co-designed Workshop,” explored a social design-based experiment co-designed with child-partners, her former kindergarten students. Through ethnographic observation and micro-interactional analysis, her study revealed the children’s collaborations, brilliance and critiques of schooling. Addressing the intentionally blurred line between researcher and participant, she reflected on her role as designer and teacher, navigating her own learning and unlearning in the workshop. Padilla-Chávez’s work emphasizes how affirming dignity in learning environments fosters new forms of worldmaking, highlighting children's capacities for coordination and care.

What are you excited about this upcoming year?

“I chose CU Boulder and the School of Education because I have worked 30 years for this opportunity. When graduating from high school from Denver Public Schools, I did not have the merit to apply to CU Boulder for my undergraduate degree. Feelings of intellectual incapability engulfed me throughout my childhood and teens. Consequently, my merit reflected those feelings. Fortunately, in my undergraduate studies, I had professors that guided me in finding the light—feelings of intellectual capability. Since then, it has been my life’s work to provide the same for my students.

Along the way, I met (CU Boulder professor emerita) Kathy Escamilla at La Cosecha, a bilingual education conference in New Mexico. When I heard her speak, I knew I wanted to study with her. The experience in the master's program through the BUENO Center with Dr. Escamilla as my advisor was one of the most transformational experiences of my life, so much so that I wanted to continue with my doctorate. Fifteen years later, I returned to CU Boulder in the School of Education to pursue a PhD in Learning Science and Human Development, yet another transformational experience where I grew in ways I did not know was possible. You see, choosing CU Boulder has always been my choice. I am grateful to all my professors, mentors and advisors who believed in me, and I am grateful to myself for never giving up on me. It is where I belong, and now I can remind that 18-year-old girl back in 1997 that she does, too.”

What are you excited about this upcoming year?

“I am excited to live my dream as a college professor. I am excited to connect with those who have had a similar journey as me and who come from similar backgrounds and remind them that they too belong here. I am excited to help prepare future teachers to see and recognize the brilliance of their students, affirm their dignity and provide opportunities for the actualization of their potential in trusted communities of love and care.”

What’s a fun fact about you?

“I have been a dancer since the movie Breakin' came out in 1984. I was poppin' and lockin' with my older brother, Jojo, before I could tie my shoes. I danced Mexican Folklórico and flamenco as a teen and young adult. Now I dance anything Latin (Zumba, salsa, bachata, etc.) and hip-hop. Dancing is when I feel most free. It is important to find those things in life that enable you to feel free.”

What do you like to do on a day off?

“I cannot think of a better day than spending it with my family—my husband, Joe, and our two sons, José and Vicente, who are usually schooling us on life as they are both so wise, so insightful and so smart. They have been my greatest teachers.”

Lindsay Romano is an assistant professor in equity, bilingualism and biliteracy.

Her research examines how systemic oppressions, such as racism, ableism and linguicism, impact the educational trajectories and outcomes of secondary students experiencing multiple marginalizations. She is particularly interested in how teachers play a role in perpetuating and disrupting inequities in their instruction and how critical and contemplative pedagogies may be used as tools for social justice in the classroom.

Why did you choose CU Boulder and the School of Education?

“I love the interdisciplinary nature of the school and its commitment to social justice and equity. In my own program, equity, bilingualism and biliteracy, I was particularly excited to work alongside colleagues who are not only researching issues of inequities for multilingual learners and learners with disabilities but also engaging in activism to enact change in partnership with local school communities.”

What are you excited about this upcoming year?

I am excited to embark on a new research project here in Colorado as well as to get to know students and faculty in the School of Education. I am excited to begin collaborating within and across programs in the school and to deepen my knowledge of the Colorado education context.

What do you like to do on a day off?

On my days off, you can find me with my family spending time outdoors, whether it be going to a park, exploring a new neighborhood, or going on a hike. I also love meditating, painting and writing!

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am really excited to be here and excited to meet students and faculty in the School of Education this year.

Blanca Trejo is an assistant teaching professor for the Leadership and Community Engagement major and the Multicultural Leadership Scholars program.

She was born and raised on the traditional homelands of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’, Tséstho’e and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ Nations, aka Denver, Colorado. Her ancestral lineage is Mexica, Totonaca and Spaniard, and she identifies as Mexican American, Latina and Xicana. She is among the first generation of her family to hold U.S. birthright citizenship and to earn a BA, an MA and a PhD. Trejo is intimately aware of societal systems that marginalize and oppress BIPOC communities in the U.S. At age 15, she became involved in youth organizing, working on issues of educational justice and immigrant rights. She has been a community organizer, nonprofit leader and a state employee charged with implementing state law won by grassroots campaigns. As an academic and organizer, her research centers on a reconnection to Indigenous knowledge and medicines that helps all people heal from the generational traumas inflicted by white supremacy. She seeks to decolonize and re-indigenize the field of youth organizing and engage BIPOC youth in healing, power building and collective action. She believes in the power of intergenerational imagination to usher us toward a future of abundance, liberation and relationships of balance with human and more-than-human relations.

Why did you choose CU Boulder and the School of Education?

My U.S. passport has stamps from over 24 different countries from five continents (I have yet to visit Australia or New Zealand, and I do not plan to visit Antarctica for environmental justice reasons). I have had the honor and the privilege to visit numerous towns and cities across the U.S. and the world. Ultimately, I have made choices to stay in Colorado because this is my home. I have lived, attended public schools and college and worked my whole life in Colorado. Like the yucca (indigenous to Colorado and the U.S. Southwest), I have a taproot that goes deep into these rocky, sandy soils. Attending graduate school and now working at the CU Boulder School of Education has allowed me the space and time to deepen my community relationships and extend my reach to the wonderful undergraduates who have enrolled in my courses over the past five years. I chose CU Boulder because of the relationships and community that exist on and off campus.

What are you excited about this upcoming year?

So many elements of my life are shifting and changing at this time. My “doctora” title is still fresh, and I am still assessing what this PhD means for me, my family and my community. While I am unsure how long I will hold the title of “Assistant Teaching Professor” with the School of Education, one thing is certain: I am not going to work very far from home. I’ll be in Denver, in the historic Baker neighborhood, with my kids (human and furry) and my partner (Anthony) and our garden. Whatever the winds of change bring this coming year, I feel rooted, centered and confident that we (a collective WE) will weather these social, political and economic storms together and come out the other side ready to rebuild a world of abundance and balance for generations to come.

What do you like to do on a day off?

On my days of rest, you will find me getting my hands full of soil and leaves and worms. Fall is my favorite season. I adore the changes that arrive with the fall winds: leaves changing color, flower petals changing to seeds, and temperature changing from sunny mid-day to brisk in the evening. I tend to carry small paper envelopes during this time of year to collect seeds from the generous plants that grow all around me: on the side of a building; through the cracks in the concrete sidewalks; tucked clandestinely in an alley way. I love how the plants around us are a constant reminder of the beauty and abundance that exist in our world.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am not an ardent social media savant. However, should anyone wish to stay in touch, please feel free to find me at LinkedIn: Dr. Blanca E. Trejo Aguilera; Instagram and Threads @dr_blancaelena; Blue Sky @DrBlancaElena.bsky.social; and my website BlancaElena.PhD.

This year, the CU Boulder School of Education welcomed our newest faculty members, who bring a variety of experiences and enhance our community of educators and learners. Learn more about them and what they are looking forward to most as we continue to welcome them to our school and community.

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A memorial tribute to Professor Dan Liston

Hannah Fletcher — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 23:28:43 +0000

A memorial tribute to Professor Dan Liston Hannah Fletcher Tue, 12/16/2025 - 16:28

Dan Liston, In Memoriam,
Nov. 27, 1953 – Dec. 28, 2024

By Jennie Whitcomb, Ken Teitelbaum and Ken Zeichner

We remember Daniel Patrick Liston—distinguished scholar, beloved teacher, and generous colleague — for his integrity, for the ethical stances he articulated (even when it was unpopular to do so), for his abiding appreciation of and respect for scholars and practitioners, and for his open-hearted connection to all he met. He arrived at CU Boulder in 1990, bringing a Midwestern sensibility, authenticity, and compassionate heart to all his efforts on behalf of current and prospective teachers, teacher educators, administrators and educational scholars.

As a scholar, he contributed significantly to several fields, notably curriculum theory and teacher education. At the time that Dan became involved in teacher education, the field was dominated by attention to technical issues, and it was thought by many that ethical, cultural and contextual concerns debated in the social and cultural foundations of education should, at most, play a peripheral role in a teacher’s education. Dan, as a scholar of curriculum theory and teacher education, believed that teachers should be prepared to critically and continuously examine their teaching by exploring technical issues (such as instructional strategies, classroom management, assessment, and content selection) using moral, ethical and cultural lenses. Importantly, Dan felt strongly that teachers and teacher candidates should be presented with a full range of conceptual lenses to guide their reflections and to locate the issues they faced in broader contexts. In the book series he and Ken Zeichner edited—Reflective Teaching and the Social Conditions of Schooling—Dan sought to present teachers with a full range of options available and to support their own deliberations, including the critical perspectives often missing in teacher education programs. He encouraged genuine intellectual dialogue, in which individuals articulated their own stances and kept an open mind to those of others. He brought this same vision to his work as an editor of the Journal of Teacher Education, one of the top-ranked teacher education journals in the U.S. and among the highest-ranked education journals internationally.

Another important aspect of Dan’s role in teacher education was his respect for teachers and his strong sense of civic and community responsibility as a university educator. One example of this central aspect of his work was his involvement with a community-based teacher education program in the Roaring Fork Valley that helped bring more teachers of color into Colorado schools. Dan served as co-director and then advisor to this program. Another example was his work with the Colorado Courage and Renewal program based on Parker Palmer’s book Courage to Teach. The weekend retreats were designed to help professionals in many fields reflect on and rejuvenate their professional practices through a stronger personal commitment to teaching. For several years Dan helped secure funding to bring this program to Colorado and co-facilitated weekend retreats for teachers and administrators in Denver schools.

With classes that were always full, Dan created syllabi and conducted seminar discussions in ways that made sure everyone in the room got out onto the conversational dance floor. Dan reveled in moments when students worked out their stance and could articulate their perspective in a “pointed and pithy” way. A consummate dissertation advisor, Dan read each and every chapter draft as he supported students to find the analytical edges and empirical bases for their claims. In addition to his graduate-level teaching, Dan never shied away from a pedagogical challenge, which included the development of popular courses for undergraduates (e.g., Education in Film) and contributions to CU Boulder’s early experiments in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

As a friend and colleague, Dan had an open door and a ready ear. He served as a sounding board to help the newest members feel a part of the institution and to understand its tacit rules. He championed assistant professors, offering wise counsel as they delineated independent lines of research and guiding them as they navigated the tricky terrain of balancing personal life demands with those of academe. In meetings, especially those when a prickly topic was under discussion, he voiced clear principles and always argued for fairness. If tensions were mounting, he often found a way to interject his self-deprecating humor to lighten the moment. In these and other ways, including his cheerful greetings and gentle words of comfort when someone encountered difficulty, Dan sought to build an authentic community for all his colleagues.

Dan made extraordinary, wide-ranging contributions—in print, at conferences, in service to the profession, in the classroom, and in the community—to a humanistic orientation that also asked his students and his colleagues to consider their role in the broader social, cultural and political communities in which they live. He was “critical” in the very best sense of that oft-used word among academics. His voice may be stilled, but his words will continue to inspire current and future generations of educators. And for those who knew him personally, his generosity, kindness, sense of humor, friendly manner and smiling visage are all sorely missed.

Jennie Whitcomb is Principal at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Northern California and former Associate Dean of Teacher Education at CU Boulder. Ken Teitelbaum is a former Education Dean at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Ken Zeichner is Professor Emeritus at University of Washington Seattle and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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From Brazil to Boulder: Julian Martins’ global journey in physics education

Hannah Fletcher — Sun, 04 May 2025 05:41:06 +0000

From Brazil to Boulder: Julian Martins’ global journey in physics education Hannah Fletcher Sat, 05/03/2025 - 23:41

Julian Martins’ story is one of bridging worlds— between two countries, between disciplines, between theory and practice, and most importantly, between people.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and raised partly in Boulder, Colorado, Martins path reflects a lifelong commitment to transforming how physics is taught and learned, grounded in compassion, collaboration, and curiosity.

With a Master's of Science in Physics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Martins returned to Boulder to pursue a long-held passion that developed during his childhood visits to the CU Boulder, where his parents studied and conducted research.

“Graduating from CU Boulder is the greatest achievement of my life,” Martins said. “It gives me perspective on my parents’ achievements too, and it continues our family’s connection with academic communities across countries.”

Martins' academic journey is only part of the story. What sets him apart is his unique ability to integrate physics knowledge with pedagogy, scientific practices, and an empathetic understanding of both teachers and students. His work with the PEER Physics program at CU Boulder exemplifies how scientific rigor can and should coexist with human-centered teaching and learning, and it's one of the reasons Martins has been earned the Outstanding Contribution to Community Engagement Award for master's gradautes in the School of Education.

“Julian is gifted in bringing together his knowledge of physics, pedagogy, scientific practices, and contextual knowledge of teachers and their students,” said his award nominator. “I have been impressed by Julian’s compassionate leadership."

Indeed, Martins’ leadership shines in the professional learning communities he has helped facilitate—both online and in person—for educators across the globe. Through PEER Physic networks, Martins has cultivated environments where teachers are not just recipients of knowledge, but collaborators and expert learners in their own right.

“Julian takes great care to ensure that teachers, and their students, see themselves as expert learners, rather than as knowers,” the nominator added.

This emphasis on growth and co-construction of knowledge is intentional.

“It’s through collaboration and interaction with others that we most learn, grow, and develop expertise,” Martins said. “Universities put us into contact with so many different people and engaging with them opens our minds and expands our social repertoire in powerful ways.”

Martins’ educational philosophy is rooted in humility and continuous learning, and he encourages other students to navigating the pressures of academia by moving through inevitable mistakes.

After graduation, Martins will continue his impactful work with PEER Physics, where Martins can continue to bring together different cultures, people, and physics education together.

His story is a reminder that education is not just about mastering content—it’s about creating connections, honoring context, and uplifting others.

In his own words

Please tell us a bit about yourself

I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but I also lived in Boulder for a few years as a child. After obtaining my Master’s of Science in Physics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, I came to CU Boulder to pursue a passion for physics education and physics education research. I had a childhood connection with the university because my parents engaged in graduate & post-graduate work here, and I always dreamed of coming back and doing the same. Through my father, I had the immense privilege of meeting my advisor, Valerie Otero, with whom I developed a working relationship that is going strong even today."

What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at CU Boulder that you’ll carry with you into the next chapter?

It's through collaboration and interaction with others that we most learn, grow, and develop expertise. Universities put us into contact with so many different people, and engaging with them opens our minds and expands our social repertoire in powerful ways."

What does graduating from CU Boulder represent for you and/or your community?

It means a lot, mainly because it maintains my family's connection with the academic communities of different countries. Graduating from CU Boulder is the greatest achievement of my life, and it gives me perspective on my parent's achievements too.”

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

When people say that you are your worst critic, they're really not kidding. Don't allow your inner doubt to paralyze you from moving your ideas and projects forward. What you do in your time here will not be the best thing you do in your life, and it's not supposed to be. Just show that you can take something from start to finish, learn from your inevitable mistakes and disappointments along the way, and keep moving.”

What are your next steps after graduation?

To continue working with the incredible people at PEER Physics, who I had the good fortune of meeting and collaborating with in my time here. They provided me with an opportunity to engage in meaningful physics education work as a graduate student, and that has not changed now that I have graduated!"

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