FYI- please see email below

From: Smith, Richard
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 1:25 PM
To: OELA All Users; Anand, Supreet; Bentley-Memon, Millicent; Bailey, Elizabeth; Johnson, Petraine; Jenkins, Amy; Kenworthy, Sue; Vazquez, Ruben; Weinmann, Amy
Cc: Melendez, Thelma; Miles, Emily
Subject: New OELA Director

Dear Colleagues:

We wanted to share the news that Dr. Rosalinda Barrera has been selected as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of English Language Acquisition.

Since August 2005, Dr. Barrera has been Dean of the College of Education at Texas State University-San Marcos.  Previously, she was the Associate Provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as Interim Director of the campus-wide Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society and a Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Latina/o Studies Program.  She earned a Ph.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in elementary reading from the University of Texas at Austin.  In addition, she has been an elementary teacher, a school district administrator, and a professor at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. 

Her research interest has focused continuously on the education of Latino/Mexican American children, specifically in the areas of literacy and literature.  Her publications include lead author of a book, Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Booklist for Grades K-8  (2^nd ed., 1997) published by the National Council of Teachers of English, and co-author of Literacy Research and Practice (2004), a book by Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, plus numerous professional articles and reports.

We expect Dr. Barrera to join the Department mid-August.  With the upcoming reauthorization of the ESEA and the Administration’s focus on English Learners, we look forward to Dr. Barrera’s leadership and support for our important agenda.

Thank you,

Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana and Richard Smith