We’ve always known American Indian Language Development Institute Project Coordinator Alyce Sadongei in our Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies was a source of strength and energy.

An archiving and preservation career led her to a leadership role at the Smithsonian Institution, where she became the first Native American to serve as director of the American Indian Museums Study program.

Sadongei now leads the University of Arizona and six other institutions in digitizing more than 6,500 recordings of Native American oral histories. The wealth of information, from tribal council meetings to people simply telling their stories, will be better preserved and searchable for the next generation.

KJZZ, Phoenix’s public radio station, interviewed Sadongei for this story.

But something we didn’t know was that the ever-humble Sadongei was just named to OZY Media’s list of Native Americans Changing the World, alongside newly appointed U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Alyce Sadongei, thank you for giving us another reason to be proud of the College of Education!

If the last year has taught us anything about life in the classroom, it’s that the need for digital innovation has never been greater. Many educators did not feel adequately prepared to use digital tools and navigate the complexities of teaching online. And, sadly, many students in underserved, rural, and Indigenous communities did not have the needed access or digital skills to fully participate in online education.

These are just some of the reasons we are developing the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab (DIALL), which adopts a community-based approach to explore how digital literacies can transform teaching and learning and extend research opportunities. DIALL will offer open-access hours and will design hands-on professional learning opportunities for teachers, educators, students, and community members.

You are invited to join us Tuesday, April 27, 5:30-6:30, to learn more about DIALL with faculty members Associate Professor Jill Castek and Associate Professor Blaine Smith as they discuss their vision for DIALL.

Castek, co-director of DIALL, says, “DIALL will serve as a cutting-edge instructional space to build community and explore creative possibilities for expanding literacy and learning.

Renovations on the first floor of the College of Education building have already begun for DIALL with a vision for expanding innovative possibilities. The podcasting bay extends digital storytelling with soundscapes. Imagine teachers using interactive, multi-media approaches to amplify learners’ digital creativity."

DIALL co-director Smith adds, “DIALL is everyone’s space. If you have a project that could be enhanced by dynamic and hands-on, digital literacies extensions, DIALL is a place where you can bring your vision alive.”

Register today! Free and open to the public.

Speaking of lessons learned during the pandemic, three of our faculty members were consulted for this UA News article on whether the pandemic has meant an entire year has been lost for K-12 students. Dean Emeritus and Professor Ron Marx, Associate Dean and Professor Iliana Reyes, and Assistant Professor of Practice Rebecca Hartzell discuss how a year of online learning and social distance has affected different students in different ways.

Join us for the third panel in our new Uncharted series

Learn about the experiences and perspectives of early childhood educators as they share what their work is like in these shifting times, especially as related to diverse values, culture, equity, and beliefs.

Associate Professor Nolan Cabrera, Educational Policy Studies & Practice

Professor Mary Carol Combs, Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

Associate Professor Rick Orozco, Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

Assistant Professor Adai Tefera, Disability and Psychoeducational Studies

Moderator: Robin Hiller, Education Policy Center

Register today! Free and open to the public.

The College of Education is leading the development of a new collaborative community, the Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative (TREC), to support professional learning opportunities for the region’s birth through 12th-grade educators. TREC is accomplishing this through leveraging the region’s existing resources and creating new opportunities.

To cultivate a thriving teaching profession, we are collaborating with nine regional school districts, several charter schools, and more than 20 community organizations and governmental agencies. Based on a 10-month assessment and planning phase, we identified key efforts, such as developing a website to connect educators to the region’s resources, supporting teacher-leaders, and offering social-emotional learning professional development.

Ahead of TREC’s official launch in July, we received funding from several local funders: Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation, Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, Lester L. and Roberta D. Smith Endowed Chair for Prevention and Education, and American Association of University Women, Tucson Branch. Added to this is a $300,000, 2.5-year community-investment grant from the Helios Education Foundation to help TREC bring together additional resources and partners to support these efforts.

“No single entity can do it all,” says TREC Director Jen Kinser-Traut. “This is why we have built the collaborative to support innovative ideas that go beyond individual district or school professional learning efforts.”

The grant from Helios allows TREC to expand its focus and emphasis on early childhood education, as TREC works to improve access to and the quality of professional learning for these educators. Kinser-Traut adds, “Ultimately, we want to increase teacher retention in the region. These grants give us the opportunity to work toward this.”

Learn more! Sign up for the TREC monthly newsletter.

Tatiana Degai, who was a student in our Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies American Indian Language Development Institute, had wondered how she could get AILDI to offer a workshop or courses in her home country of Russia.

As a result of her idea, AILDI partnered with the Arctic, Remote, and Cold Territories Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Northern Iowa to offer a virtual workshop in March on the Master Apprentice Method of language immersion. The workshop targeted Indigenous language teachers and learners in Russia and was led by Kumeyaay Community College Instructor Stan Rodriguez (Kumeyaay – Iipay, Santa Ysabel). He has delivered the Master Apprentice Method to numerous tribal communities throughout the United States.

Approximately 29 people registered and represented Indigenous language groups from: Koryak and Itelmen from Kamchatka (Pacific coast, and represented in the illustration above), Selkup from Tomsk area (Central Siberia), Kumandin from Altai, Udege from Primorski Region (Pacific Coast), Even, Evenk, Yukagir, and Sakha from Yakutia. 

AILDI Director Ofelia Zepeda says, “The concerns and challenges facing the Indigenous language learners and teachers in Russia are very similar to what Native people in the United States are facing.”

Many of the participants expressed their own heartfelt desire to honor their heritage languages by learning or making a commitment to use their languages more in their communities. AILDI Project Coordinator Alyce Sadongei adds, “It was quite an experience that actually felt unifying, and some of the comments that the participants shared brought us to tears. We were honored to have shared time with the Indigenous participants from Russia and we look forward to staying in touch with them.”

Our Pathways to Teaching program is growing — and then some! Through the program, school districts invest in community members to become future educators for local schools. Pathways began with a College of Education partnership with Sunnyside School District, and has been so successful that it has expanded into these rural areas:

Altar Valley School District

Casa Grande Elementary School District

Douglas Unified School District

Nogales Unified School

Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District

We are now recruiting for teacher candidates in Cochise County for the spring 2022 Pathways to Teaching program. Tuition is covered through the Arizona Teacher Academy, which provides a $1,000 monthly stipend while students train in district classrooms. 

Contact Maria Orozco to learn more.

Each year, the university's Graduate College recognizes two faculty members from across the university with the Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award. It just so happens both awardees are from our college this year!

Please send congratulations to Professor Mary Carol Combs and Associate Professor Desireé Vega who were honored for exceling in their teaching and mentoring of graduate and professional students. Awardees receive a cash award, a medallion, and plaque and are honored during the Awards of Distinction Reception and Ceremony.

Past awardees are Professor Emerita Yetta Goodman (2001) and Professor Emerita Patty Anders (2006). 

The college is an international leader in research that explores the educational impacts of border life, yet often that research does not get to the communities that would benefit.

Our Borderlands Education Center, led by Professor Etta Kralovec, is an intellectual hub in the rural borderlands of Southern Arizona, expanding learning and research opportunities for border teachers and communities. This is the first education center of its kind in the United States.

The center provides a structure for ongoing programming that brings University of Arizona scholars to rural Cochise County, sharing their expertise with rural border communities — enhancing the visibility, impact, and public benefit of Arizona research.

The center ensures existing and potential external partners in Cochise County, honoring the university’s commitment to Cochise County. The center recently received funding from the university’s Spring 2021 Provost's Investment Fund to expand its reach.

Kralovec notes, “Support for graduate students who are interested in border research is a high priority for us. Often my students who have crossed the border to come to school as children are drawn to that topic for their research papers in my class. Many of these students have expressed an interest in going on for a Ph.D, so in all the grant proposals we have submitted for the center, we include funding for graduate students.” 

This year’s Erasmus Circle Outstanding Achievement in Education Award goes to Steve and Nancy Lynn, who both graduated from the college 1968. Nancy Lynn worked as a guidance counselor at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson. Steve Lynn’s career includes working for the City of Tucson to CEO and owner-partner of Nordensson Lynn & Associates. He is now the principal of Steve Lynn Consulting. He is a longtime activist for education, serving on many community boards including the Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board of First Things First. In 2009, he received a Doctor of Letters degree from the College of Education and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The Lynns also created the Nancy K. & Steven W. Lynn Scholarship Endowment in the College of Education to support graduate students interested in pursuing a specialization in school counseling.

Thank you to the Lynns for their support and advocacy of education!