Terri ThorkildsenIn Chicago since 1989, Theresa (Terri) Thorkildsen is Professor of Education and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Terri conducts research on the moral and intellectual development of youth in K-13 settings, emphasizing students’ reasoning about schools as institutions of the civil sphere. Her current research addresses how students balance their competing motivations, and how particular intentions are affected by students’ perceptions of their social experiences. Currently working on a book titled Adolescents’ Self-Discovery in Groups, Terri also writes refereed journal articles, chapters, and books for psychologists as well as articles, chapters, and reviews for educators and other practitioners. Trained as a psychologist, Terri actively seeks to collaborate with teachers to ensure that her work stays useful for encouraging youth to become active participants in society.
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Elizabeth Cambray-EngstromElizabeth Cambray-Engstrom received both her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and her master’s degree in special education from the University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC). Elizabeth is a Diversifying Faculty in Illinois fellow and sits on the board of the Illinois Subdivision of the Division for Early Childhood (IDEC). She has long been committed to understanding and supporting families’ participation in students’ education. Elizabeth attributes her commitment to working with families to her early experiences serving students and parents within Chicago Public Schools. She has also spent many years working with families at UIC’s Child and Family Development Center. Her experiences working with Latino families and students continue to inform her work today. She has taught masters courses focusing on assessment, instruction and fieldwork within special education over several years and hopes to continue her work in preparing educators and research in special education.
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Joseph R Passi
Joseph Passi began his foray into education as a teenager by giving guitar lessons to friends and people in his neighborhood. Based on his personal connections to individuals with disabilities and the exclusion that perceptions of disability and mental illness can produce, he decided to pursue a Masters of Education in Special Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is currently pursing a PhD in Special Education at UIC. His research interests include the intersections of race, class, and (dis)ability; the construction of Westernized epistemologies that privilege dominant modes of knowledge; and the semiotics of mental illness and bodily perfection. He currently teaches reading and writing to high school students with and without disabilities at Benito Juarez Community Academy—a place he has called home since 2006. He continues to give guitar lessons to members of the school community.
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Jesús Antonio LaurelJesús Antonio Laurel, an English teacher at Benito Juarez Community Academy (BJCA), will discuss the importance of creating opportunities for civic engagement in the classroom through public writing that addresses issues concerning students and their communities. Laurel's interests are in how students' identities are shaped through transnational experiences and how they, in turn, participate in local and global communities. He contends that within the framework of national education reforms, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), designing writing instruction that is situated in community issues most relevant to students’ lives is needed now more than ever. Having been born and raised in Chicago's predominately Mexican and Mexican-American Little Village community, his experiences have provided a foundation for his practices and interests in education. Laurel earned his Master's of Education (M.Ed) in Instructional Leadership in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Paulina Camacho
Paulina Camacho immigrated from central Mexico at the age of five and found a home on the south side of Chicago. The South-Side afforded Paulina a wide range of diverse cultural experiences, laying a strong foundation for her current art education and social activism. She has previously worked with Enlace Chicago at Little Village-Lawndale High School as a resource coordinator for community school programs. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching (M.AT) in 2012 and teaches and serves as department chair of the visual arts program at Benito Juarez Community Academy.
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