Adrian Pasquarella is an associate professor specializing in literacy education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. He teaches courses related to literacy instruction, specifically for English Language Learners (ELLs). He leads the Multicultural Education and Literacy Development (MELD) laboratory at the University of Delaware.

His research areas include language and literacy acquisition and development in multilingual populations, understanding universal and language specific aspects of reading and writing, cross-language transfer, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and morphological awareness. Additionally, his research is focused on developing and evaluating evidence-based educational programs to improve language and literacy outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse students in the US and abroad.

Enid Lum is an EdD candidate in Leadership in Education with a focus on vocabulary and academic language development of English Learners. She is currently employed as the ESOL Instructional Coach in Cecil County Public Schools in Maryland. Enid is a member of Maryland TESOL and follows the WIDA Consortium, where Maryland is a member state. Enid’s interests include English language and literacy development, instruction of English Learners, cross-cultural communication, and cultural diversity. She enjoys traveling and exploring new places.

Current area of study: Ph.D. student in Literacy

Academic interests: culturally and linguistically diverse learners, English learners, writing workshop model, representation in young adult literature, secondary cultural studies courses

Hobbies: reading (writers I love: Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Emily Dickinson), taking walks, cooking vegetarian food, writing short stories and poetry

Fan Zhang is a Ph.D. student in the Literacy Program. She had been teaching college English in China for eleven years. She is working as a teaching assistant for the course Literacy for English Language Learners. Her research interests are language and literacy development for English learners, and teaching English as a second language.

Major: Elementary Teacher Education

Concentration: ESL

Minor: Spanish

My interest lies at the intersection of culturally and linguistically diverse students with special needs. Specifically, in understanding how to deliver effective academic supports for Spanish-English bilingual students with reading and mathematical learning disabilities.

As part of my academic and professional goals, I aim to create curricula that supports diverse language learners, impact educational policy that supports bilingual and biliteracy education, and work with undergraduate programs that support preservice teacher preparation in this area. I hope that my bilingual education endeavors will prepare me to be the Secretary of Education for the Unites States of America.

While being a full time student, I also work as a server at a restaurant. I am also very involved in my church where I play piano and sing during services. I spend a lot of time tutoring beginning literacy for elementary students and Spanish.

Denise Garcia, Ed.D Program

Kelly Carvajal Hageman, Ed.D Program

Natasha Diokno, Ed.D Program

Shuxiong Fang, Ed.D Program

Ye Shen, Ph.D. Program

Nayab Abid

Corey Chandler

Karin Ueda

Hannah Bass