new vice president and new members of the executive council
Vice President
Sofia Villenas is Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Latino/a Studies Program at Cornell University. A former Spanish bilingual elementary school teacher and adult educator, she is a foundations scholar who utilizes ethnography, cultural studies and cultural anthropology to engage the question of how culture, race, gender, socio-economic class, and language intersect with and shape youths’ and parents’ educational experiences in and out of school. In looking to inform efforts towards educational equity, Sofia has been interested in documenting the knowledge and resources of diverse families and communities in order to learn, among other things, how educators may create bridges between the many different sites of teaching and learning. Her current research includes a qualitative study of how diverse families and youths experience inclusion and exclusion in a college town school district, an ongoing study of how immigrant Latino parents navigate parenting and schooling in new Latino destinations, and a conceptual project involving the question of how to perceive and address educational problems from the knowledge and theories emanating from communities of color. Sofia has published in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Anthropology and Education Quarterly and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Her co-edited books include Race is . . . Race isn’t: Critical Race Theory and Qualitative Studies in Education (Westview Press), Chicana/Latina Education in Everyday Life: Feminista Perspectives on Pedagogy and Epistemology (SUNY Press) and forthcoming, the Handbook of Latinos and Education: Theory, Research and Practice (Routledge and Taylor Frances Group).
Personal Statement: I first attended an AESA conference as a master’s student from California. The year was 1992 and the place was Pittsburgh. For 17 years, AESA has been my intellectual home. I have enthusiastically introduced the organization to my colleagues and students from the University of Utah, University of Texas at Austin and now from Cornell. It gives me great pleasure to see even my “grandstudents” becoming members of AESA. I have served on the Executive Council and on most all of the various committees including the program and nominations committees, and the R. Freeman Butts Lecture and Kneller Lecture committees. I hope to support AESA’s greatest strengths which I believe include its diversity of voices, ideas and interdisciplinary scholarship, its breadth and inclusiveness of foundations scholarship, and its memberships’ steadfast belief that education is central to social justice. But I also hope to further define AESA as a community – a community that encourages the best work from its members in an intellectually engaging and supportive atmosphere, a community that more systematically offers opportunities for collaboration, linkages and mentorship among and between senior, junior and graduate student scholars, and a community that collectively speaks on the most pressing issues of the day. I hope to harness and put into play the many good ideas from AESA members who have worked for these goals.
Executive Council:
Denise Taliaferro Baszile is an associate professor in the department of Educational Leadership at Miami University, where she teaches courses on curriculum theory, critical race theory, critical media literacy, and African American education. Her research interests are in the historical, political and philosophical foundations of race and it’s relationship to curriculum and pedagogy. Her latest publications include, “The Oppressor Within: Race and Repression in Teacher Reflection,” “Beyond All Reason Indeed: The Pedagogical Promise of Critical Race Testimony,” and “Deal With It We Must: Education, Social Justice and the Curriculum of Hip Hop Culture.” Denise has been an active member of AESA for the past 12 years, serving on the executive council from 2002-2005 as well as the program and nominating committees in other years. Denise’s hope for AESA is that it continues to be a progressive, graduate student-friendly organization committed to imagining and enacting creative ways to call for and practice social justice as an educational imperative.
Sheryl Conrad Cozart is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University, where she teachers courses in foundations of education, diversity in education, and social studies methodology. She has been a member of AESA since 1996. Cozart’s research interests include the preparation of culturally responsive preservice teachers, urban and multicultural school contexts, and how teachers and scholars of color promote social transformation. Thus far, her scholarship has added to the discussion of how best to educate children by highlighting 1) that preservice teachers must not only examine the cultures of their students but also their own cultures, 2) teacher educators can aid in the development of culturally responsive teachers by sharing lived experiences in which they model their own cultural understandings and 3) that young children’s cultural differences must be viewed as salient aspects of who they are and how they learn. Cozart has articles published in The Urban Review, The High School Journal, Educational Foundations, Vitae Scholasticae, and The Journal of Staff Development, as well as several book chapters. In addition to her regular presentations at AESA, Cozart’s recent service to the profession includes: 2008 proposal reviewer, American Educational Research Association; 2008 Program committee member, AESA; editorial consultant, Handbook of African American Education. Cozart would like to see AESA maintain its outreach to graduate students and young scholars by continuing to encourage the mentoring and advising that so often takes place among educational foundations scholars.
Enrique G. Murillo, Jr., Ph.D. is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Language, Literature and Culture at California State University, San Bernardino. He has successfully served during the last 3 decades in the capacity of a school teacher, a student, a counselor, a social-service worker, a community organizer, a director/consultant in various community-based projects, a lecturer, a manager/editor for several academic journals, a researcher, and a university instructor. As a scholar, his specialty areas include foundations of education, research methods, Latinos and Education, critical ethnography, educational anthropology and cultural studies. He has published numerous articles in various academic journals including Educational Foundations, The Urban Review, Journal of Thought, Educational Studies, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. He is co-author / co-editor of several books, Local Democracy Under Siege with NYU Press; The New Latino Diaspora with Ablex Press; Post-Critical Ethnography in Education with Hampton Press; and the Handbook of Latinos and Education with Routledge. In addition, Dr. Murillo has been the recipient of the 2004 Outstanding Advisor of the Year Award, the 2003 Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, the California State University Forgivable Loan, the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the Southern Oral History Award. In 2000 he was awarded the prestigious "Outstanding Dissertation Award" from Phi Delta and in 2009 was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by the University of North Carolina. Dr. Murillo is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), also having served as the Bilingual Research SIG Chair, the American Educational Studies Association (AESA), and the American Anthropological Association (AAA). He is a peer-reviewer for The Urban Review, The High School Journal, and the University of Oklahoma Press and Routledge. He serves/ has served on the editorial boards for Educational Foundations, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, and The Initiative Anthology Journal; and served as the California Representative of the Committee on Academic Standards and Accreditation (CASA), which informed the CLSE Standards and ultimately NCATE Standards for the field. Most recently he had been working both with the Los Angeles County Office of Education as a Professional Expert, and with Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishing Company and now Routledge where he serves as the founding Editor for the Journal of Latinos and Education. Additionally, he served as an Independent Evaluator for ALCANCE, which facilitates GED completion to Farm Workers. Dr. Murillo also served/serves in two CA state appointments. He was a member of the Statewide Pupil Assessment Review board, which reviews all the test items for K-12 standardized tests. He also serves as a Commissioner for the CA Student Aid Commission, administering 4.2 billion dollars in financial aid.
