PhD Students

Two �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer early career honors

Hannah Fletcher — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:43:30 +0000

Two �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer early career honors Hannah Fletcher Wed, 06/24/2026 - 11:43

The National Academy of Education (NAEd) announced recently two �鶹��Ѱ�� education scholars, doctoral candidate Danielle Aguilar and alumnus Christopher Saldaña, have been selected for two of the nation’s most competitive honors for emerging education scholars.

The NAEd/Spencer fellowships recognize exceptional research and provide funding and professional development to early-career scholars whose projects address critical issues in the history, theory and practice of education nationally and globally.

Aguilar was selected as one of just 35 dissertation fellows nationwide chosen from nearly 500 applicants.

Her dissertation, “From Systemic Rupture to Sacred Space: A Multi-Methods Study of Educational Pushout and Healing,” explores how youth of color who have experienced criminalization and heightened surveillance understand what culture, resistance and healing means to them, including how they understand and reimagine resistance through Indigenous cultural practices.

Working alongside Denver-area youth, Aguilar uses community-based participatory research while also offering “love and dignity to all persons involved in the research process” to examine how community cultural wealth and healing justice frameworks illuminate the wisdom, creativity and knowledge that young people carry. Her work challenges deficit-based narratives about justice-system-impacted youth and seeks to transform the systems that shape many lives.

As a first-generation scholar from a working-class Chicanx family, Aguilar brings strong personal and community commitments to her research and hopes to become a professor at a minority-serving institution, where she can continue to focus on transformative research that uplifts young scholars. She said it’s a deep honor to be a PhD candidate, and she feels an immense privilege that’s rooted in responsibility to her community.

“As a first-generation college student and former Pell Grant recipient, I see the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship as a collective endurance and manifestation of ancestral dreams,” Aguilar said. “This fellowship invites me to bring methodological innovation and experiential knowledge to the intersections of youth, carcerality and education. By anchoring my work in QuantCrit, Indigenous ways of knowing and community-based participatory research, I am not just analyzing data but rather working alongside community to untangle the punitive practices that restrict far too many lives.

“This recognition honors the brilliance of my community partner, the deep love and sacrifice of my family and loved ones and the strength and wisdom of ancestors. Here’s to imagining and working towards liberatory futures.”

Additionally, Saldaña, a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder alumnus (PhDEdu’22) and current assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received a 2026 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Saldaña, who is also a fellow in �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s National Education Policy Center (NEPC) and host of the NEPC Talks Education podcast, was selected as one of just 25 postdoctoral fellows nationwide from a pool of nearly 500 applicants. His project, “Platform Promises, District Realities: Examining How Organizational Capacity Shapes the Adoption of K–12 Educational Technology,” investigates how school districts navigate the adoption of educational platforms such as Google Classroom, Canvas and ClassDojo.

Saldaña’s work examines whether disparities in school district organizational capacity are creating a new digital divide, one defined not by access to technology but by the ability to manage complex, ongoing relationships with platform providers. His multi-method study aims to deepen understanding of platform-driven inequality and support more equitable technology adoption across districts.

“It’s hard to put into words how grateful I am for the opportunity offered to me by the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation,” he said. “The NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship will give me the time and space to dig into the complex world of education platforms, organizational capacity and district adoption processes.

“I owe an enormous thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, including my partner, family, friends, mentors and advisors and colleagues. A special shoutout goes out to the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education, the National Education Policy Center and the Miramontes Fellowship program, all of which offered crucial support during my time as a graduate student.”

NAEd/Spencer fellowships play a vital role in cultivating the next generation of scholars across diverse fields and investing in education research is increasingly important amid declines in research funding.

“Danielle’s and Chris’ research approaches are innovative and deeply needed at a moment when rigorous, transformative education research is more important than ever,” said Amanda Haertling Thein, dean of the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education.

“These fellowships are more than recognitions—they reflect our school’s national impact in cultivating emerging scholars whose work advances justice, equity and community-rooted approaches to education research. We are proud of Chris and Danielle, and excited about how their work will expand our understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing education today while pointing toward new and important directions for the field.

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Meet Kyle Kopsick, an education researcher examining how teachers can educate across differences and build intercultural understanding

Ichigo Takikawa — Fri, 01 May 2026 20:43:27 +0000

Meet Kyle Kopsick, an education researcher examining how teachers can educate across differences and build intercultural understanding Ichigo Takikawa Fri, 05/01/2026 - 14:43

Before starting his PhD at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, Kyle Kopsick taught social studies at a high school in Quito, Ecuador for roughly five years. This experience greatly impacted his life and guided him to further his learning by joining the doctoral program in educational foundations, policy and practice.

“I knew I wanted to draw from anthropology and philosophy to explore how international curricula and sociocultural differences shape pedagogy,” said Kopsick.

Kopsick’s dissertation, titled "Intercultural education (un)realized: How neoliberal and neocolonial pressures constrain educational purpose and practice,” builds upon a year-long ethnographic study in Costa Rica. His work explores how an international school there sought to educate across differences and build intercultural understanding using the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Based on classroom observations, teacher interviews and student focus groups, Kopsick’s study shows how global and local pressures to perform on exams and gain credentials often narrowed what teachers and students could meaningfully pursue.

Kopsick was awarded the 2023-24 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship from the Department of Education to complete this work and received the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education’s 2026 Outstanding Dissertation award.

“His carefully designed and theoretically sophisticated study also stands to contribute to debates in allied fields, including philosophy of education and teacher education,” said his award nominators and Associate Professors Andrea Dyrness and Terri Wilson.

“Kyle’s work—as his committee affirmed in his defense—is powerfully interdisciplinary,
contributing to debates about the ethical and political complexity of teaching practice, as well as moral dimensions of education. Beyond pointing to such tensions, Kyle’s work documents spaces of resistance and solidarity, between both teachers and students, in ways that centered questions of meaning, power and humanity… we see his study as exemplifying the
very best of our program—and our School of Education.”

But his mentors, as well as his students and teachers in the classrooms, describe and notice Kopsick as humble and easygoing. He doesn’t suggest that his study can offer direct solutions, but rather, presents it as a critical case study. Furthermore, Kopsick reflects on how his learnings in the program impact his daily life.

“Through my studies and teaching at CU, I’ve improved my capacity to carefully observe, pose useful questions and identify the root of the matter at hand,” said Kopsick.

“I’ve learned that dissonance is generative when it’s approached from an inquiry orientation, and I’ve learned how to more clearly think through and navigate complexity. These are lessons that are useful for research and teaching but, more importantly, they are lessons that enhance my everyday life. I'm much more disciplined in my thinking now, and that discipline is grounded in the reminder that worthwhile inquiry is always ongoing.”

Kopsick is looking forward to staying at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder this fall as a postdoctoral fellow.

In his own words

1) Please tell us a bit about yourself:

I grew up in the Chicago area and taught social studies at a high school in Quito, Ecuador. I was deeply moved by my time in Ecuador and was motivated to further examine my teaching experiences in a doctoral program. While I was unsure of exactly what that would entail, I knew I wanted to draw from anthropology and philosophy to explore how international curricula and sociocultural differences shape pedagogy.

I chose �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder because of its foundations program. I was impressed by the faculty and knew I would be both pushed and supported. I was also promised that I would be able to consistently teach undergraduate courses, which was important for me. That promise was definitely kept!

2) What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder that you’ll carry with you into the next chapter of your life?

Through my studies and teaching at CU, I’ve improved my capacity to carefully observe, pose useful questions, and identify the root of the matter at hand. I’ve learned that dissonance is generative when it’s approached from an inquiry orientation, and I’ve learned how to more clearly think through and navigate complexity.

These are lessons that are useful for research and teaching but, more importantly, they are lessons that enhance my everyday life. I'm much more disciplined in my thinking now, and that discipline is grounded in the reminder that worthwhile inquiry is always ongoing.

3) What does graduating from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder represent for you or your family/community?

�鶹��Ѱ��is a wonderful public university that, at its best, brings diverse people together to engage in open inquiry, discussion, and deliberation. I’m grateful to have spent the past six years here and will always feel a connection to the Boulder community.

4) What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

I’ll share a few that are closely related: Read widely, deeply, and recursively. Ask questions and follow your curiosities. Beware of certainty. Engage with people who think differently than you.

5) What are your next steps after graduation?

I’m fortunate to be staying at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder as a postdoctoral fellow. I’ll be working on a great project aimed at strengthening the civic and democratic aims of the university.

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Meet Loraine Glidewell, a teacher educator, scientist, doctoral scholar passionate about the wonders of rural education

Hannah Fletcher — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 22:52:18 +0000

Meet Loraine Glidewell, a teacher educator, scientist, doctoral scholar passionate about the wonders of rural education Hannah Fletcher Wed, 04/29/2026 - 16:52

From a fisheries biologist turned rural middle school science teacher to today a doctoral graduate and teacher educator, Loraine Glidewell’s journey seems to be as winding as a remote river in Colorado’s beautiful backcountry. But with a closer look, a pattern emerges. Glidewell has always been drawn towards people and places others can overlook.

Glidewell came to the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education to pursue her PhD in Teacher Learning, Research and Practice after teaching in the San Luis Valley, a place with a deep history but an expansive area where many Coloradans drive through or pass by.

In the valley, she saw a community rich with curiosity, resilience and wonder—the perfect place to teach science. When she became a middle school teacher in Monte Vista, Glidewell didn’t just teach students; she felt connected to them in the same way that a scientist understands the interconnectivity of a thriving ecosystem.

As a teacher, Glidewell noticed her students’ strengths before they noticed it in themselves. She watched them grow across grades and time, and they watched her growth too. She has always been focused on supporting people and community.

Some of her same students later showed up at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder to support her during her dissertation defense and to cheer her on during her 3‑Minute Thesis competition, where she won the people’s choice award and campuswide award to represent �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder at the regional competition.

That’s the kind of magic Glidewell brings to her relationships, cultivates in her classrooms and centers in her research. She sees beauty in small towns and in the oft overlooked corners of rural education. Her life’s work includes sharing that beauty with others.

Her faculty describe her “humanizing vision,” her ability to see the full potential of students and teacher candidates and her talent for designing learning experiences that are “powerful, informative and memorable.” All the reasons that helped Glidewell earn the School of Education’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

Glidewell sees people—really sees them—and that changes everything. She talks glowingly about her supporters: her advisor, her professors, her cohort, her partner, her current and former students and especially her family. She carries their support with her and aims to pay it forward.

“I never saw myself as a science person, as a teacher, as a doctor," she said. "Life has been a wild and unexpected ride. Even though my family did not have the social capital to help me understand and navigate college, they gave me other tools that helped me along the way.”

Through all her many, varied experiences, Glidewell has learned that brilliance doesn’t come packaged in degrees or titles. Her research and teaching are driven by a conviction that rural communities are rich sources of scientific knowledge and possibilities.

Glidewell wants future teachers to see the potential she sees in rural learning communities and in themselves. She wants to make the invisible more visible. She believes that magic is everywhere and available to everyone willing to take a closer look.

In her own words

Please tell us a bit about yourself

I came to �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder from the beautiful San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. I set out in life to be a biologist and had a pretty amazing life working with Colorado Parks & Wildlife in the fisheries world. But then somehow, I ended up randomly becoming a middle school science teacher in our rural community, and it changed my life. So often we talk about teachers and the impact they can have on students, but my students had the biggest impact on me. I was so lucky to get to be a teacher in Monte Vista, Colorado. In a small town, you get to watch your students grow up over time, across grades, and across town. I even have had the joy of seeing students I taught as middle schoolers here, now as college students, at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder! One even made it to my dissertation defense. That's the magic of rural education. The relationships are so deep and they don't stop at the end of a school day or the end of a school year. My students actually encouraged me to be here, to work on teacher shortages in rural areas. I chose �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder because it was a rare fully funded program, and as a rural teacher, there are serious pay inequities between folks teaching in more urban and suburban spaces and those of us everywhere else. I would not have been able to afford a PhD on my own, and I got so lucky with the incredible mentorship and friendship I experienced here along the way.

What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder that you’ll carry with you into the next chapter?

The thing that I am going to carry with me wherever I go next is the importance of showing up for one another. I had so many people show up for me during my time here at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder. The best example was during the 3-Minute Thesis competition, which was something way outside of my comfort zone. I am truly a shy human, and I pushed myself to gain skills and practice in talking about and sharing my work. At the competition, I had so many people show up for me. My advisor, my professors, my friends who are also in this doctoral program, my best friend and love of my life, my family, the pre-service teachers I have been so lucky to get to know and teach, and even my students from Monte Vista School District, one even drove down from CSU Fort Collins to surprise me and be there to support me. The way that people in my life have shown up for me is something I am not just going to carry with me, but something I am deeply motivated to pay forward.

What does graduating from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder represent for you and/or your community?

My dad was a bartender and a wonderful human being. My mom is the funniest person I know. My big sister is the bossiest person I have ever met in my life. My brother Jojo, who has a rare genetic disorder, is deaf, mute, endlessly curious, and a close observer. Even though no one in my family went to college, bartending is a world of science and mixtures, a sense of humor is a source of strength and optimism, bossiness is just another word for leadership, and there is so much to learn by having a sense of wonder and paying attention to the details of the world around you. I never saw myself as a science person, as a teacher, as a doctor. Life has been a wild and unexpected ride. Even though my family did not have the social capital to help me understand and navigate college, they gave me other tools that helped me along the way. What this PhD means is that my nieces, my nephew, my students I got to teach out in Monte Vista, and someday, my kids, will know that something like this is possible for all of us.

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

My best piece of advice for incoming students is to be just as invested in the people around you as you are in yourself. Care just as much about their work and their happiness as you care about yours. This is a really tough journey, and it’s tough for everyone. Everyone is trying to figure it out, navigate life, do something meaningful, and it’s a lot easier (and so much more enjoyable) when you engage in that process together. My cohort and other doctoral students along the way made me feel like I could do this. They helped make me feel like my work mattered, and the things I care about are worthy of exploration. They even embraced all of my weird bug references and metaphors! In return, I am their biggest cheerleader, and so proud to know them and see how their work unfolds. The people around you are your best resource!

What are your next steps after graduation?

Looking to the future, my goal is to put my experience and passion for science education, teacher preparation, and rural education to work! In my dream world, this is as a future professor at a university in Colorado or nearby. I hope to continue to engage in teaching and research that supports beautiful science instruction, especially in rural areas that are often excluded by mainstream education research, policy, and curriculum. I believe that rural areas are incredibly rich for science teaching and I hope to be able to do work that makes that visible to pre-service teachers and beyond.

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Meet Lex Hunter, a rising scholar whose work is rooted in care, connection and community healing

Hannah Fletcher — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 22:04:04 +0000

Meet Lex Hunter, a rising scholar whose work is rooted in care, connection and community healing Hannah Fletcher Fri, 04/24/2026 - 16:04

Alexis “Lex” Hunter’s advisors put it simply: the field needs more scholars like her.

“Lex is positioning herself to be both a leading theorist and practitioner of community-engaged research,” said her advisors, Ben Kirshner, professor of learning sciences and human development, and Terrenda White, associate professor of educational foundations, policy and practice, who nominated her for the School of Education’s Outstanding Graduate in Community Engagement Award.

“Our field needs more scholars like Lex, who combine radical imagination, communal care and analytic rigor.”

Hunter arrived at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder at age 21, bringing with her lived experiences and learning shaped by family, community and the everyday spaces where wisdom is shared. She is a researcher who not only practices the core values of community engagement—reciprocity and respect for local knowledge—but she is someone who is pushing the boundaries of what community engagement can be. She was a key contributor to two major participatory action research projects, Voices of Healing and Building a Legacy in Engineering, and both reflect her commitments to collaborating with youth and social justice youth organizations to “understand the ways young people in racially marginalized communities interpret and resist injustice, build community and heal from intergenerational trauma through activism and culturally sustaining practices.”...

“I came to �鶹��Ѱ��for my doctoral studies with the desire to study the intersections of youth activism, mental health, and healing with communities of color,” she said. “It has been a blessing to be in Colorado, where the community carries a long and continued legacy of loving, justice-centered, powerful and potent community organizing work…”

Hunter’s dissertation work, which focused on a project co‑designed with Black and Latina femme youth to surface ancestral archives, demonstrates her gift for creating spaces rooted in trust, shared decision‑making and cultural grounding. Her trust in youth is demonstrated in the ways she has centered youth as co‑researchers in academic spaces, for example co‑authoring published work and co‑presenting at several national conferences with youth partners.

For Hunter, her work is inseparable from the relationships that shaped her research.

“I continue to find that the most tender and precious moments—both personally and professionally—happen through connection,” she said. “Whether it was through collaborative projects with youth, grabbing food with friends or being in conversation with mentors, these cherished relationships remind me that shared presence and witnessing are precious.”

Hunter hopes students who follow will stay present to their experiences and seek community to allow themselves to “feel deeply, question boldly.”

After graduation, Hunter will join the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Community Engagement, to continue working alongside historically marginalized communities and engaging in organizing and social change.

Her mentors consider her a remarkable scholar and person poised to help redefine what ethical, community‑engaged research can be.

In her own words

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

My journey as a learner, educator, and researcher began long before I ever entered graduate school. It began with my family and in community spaces - at the kitchen table, at the park, in my auntie's garden. I came to �鶹��Ѱ��for my doctoral studies at 21 years old with the desire to study the intersections of youth activism, mental health, and healing with communities of color. It has been a blessing to be in Colorado, where the community carries a long and continued legacy of loving, justice-centered, powerful, and potent community organizing work.

What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder that you’ll carry with you into the next chapter?

One of the most important reminders for me throughout my time at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder is the importance of slowing down and truly spending time in community. I continue to find that the most tender and precious moments -- both personally and professionally -- happen through connection. Whether it was through collaborative projects with youth, grabbing food with friends or being in conversation with mentors, these cherished relationships remind me that shared presence and witnessing are precious.

What does graduating from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder represent for you and/or your community?

Graduating represents something so much larger than me. It reflects the sacrifices and persistence of the people and communities who continue to carry me. I know my family is proud of me and how I honor our lineage through my work as I sit with deep, unresolved grief, given the atrocities of antiblackness, and work to transform that pain into practices of healing and solidarity alongside community. This moment is not mine alone, as it is part of a continuum of struggle and possibility.

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

Stay present to the work and to the world you carry within you. Do not separate your experiences as they are the foundation of your insight, your creativity, and your impact. Allow yourself to feel deeply, to question boldly, and to sit with what is unresolved. Seek community intentionally, and lean into relationships that lovingly challenge, support, and sustain you.

What are your next steps after graduation?

After graduation, I will begin my journey as an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Community Engagement at the University of Cincinnati. I move into this next chapter with a desire to continue building with Black youth and marginalized communities who are engaged in organizing work.

Alexis “Lex” Hunter’s advisors put it simply: the field needs more scholars like her. “Lex is positioning herself to be both a leading theorist and practitioner of community-engaged research,” said her advisors, who nominated her for the School of Education’s Outstanding Graduate in Community Engagement Award.

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Two �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer dissertation fellowships

Hannah Fletcher — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:21:51 +0000

Two �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer dissertation fellowships Hannah Fletcher Mon, 08/25/2025 - 09:21

Earlier this year, the National Academy of Education (NAEd) announced two �鶹��Ѱ�� doctoral candidates, Jackquelin “Jackie” Bristol and Alexis “Lex” Hunter, have been named recipients of the 2025 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for emerging education scholars.

The fellowship recognizes exceptional doctoral research and provides funding and professional development to early-career scholars whose projects address critical issues in the history, theory and practice of education nationally and globally.

Bristol and Hunter were selected as two of just 35 dissertation fellows chosen by leading education researchers from an extremely competitive pool of over 400 scholars.

Bristol’s dissertation, “Teacher Housing Initiatives: An Embedded Case Study of Race, Place and the School-Housing Nexus,” explores how teachers access to affordable housing intersects with race, space and public education. Through mixed-methods research, including national surveys, interviews and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, she examines how the increasing precarity of housing experienced by teachers connects to their professional behaviors, struggles, views of work and subsequent accounts and descriptions of their teaching and its impact on their students—many whose families also face housing precarity.

Hunter’s dissertation, “We Have Everything We Need: Ancestral Healing Informing Pathways to Collective Liberation in the Lives of Youth of Color,” investigates how Black/African, Latine and Indigenous youth in community organizing spaces view healing as intimately connected to social justice. Drawing on Black/African extra-colonial traditions and healing justice frameworks, her work challenges Eurocentric models of mental health and offers insights for educators on supporting student well-being through culturally grounded, justice-oriented practices.

Both scholars are doctoral candidates in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education’s Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice program. Hunter is also pursuing a dual focus in Learning Sciences and Human Development program.

With the support of the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, both Bristol and Hunter will have expanded opportunities to complete and share their impactful research, which is already contributing to more equitable and justice-centered approaches to education.

Bristol brings a sociological and critical geographic lens to her work, grounded in personal experiences with housing instability.

This support often contributes to life-altering opportunities for the fellows. At this critical time when we must continue to support educational research that expands our understanding of pressing challenges in society, these fellows and their work represent hope and a new future of creative and impactful scholarship.”

“Teacher Housing Initiatives are increasing across the country without a thorough examination of their efficacy—or their potential to unintentionally exacerbate the very issues they aim to address,” Bristol said. “With the Spencer Foundation's support, I am able to pursue in-depth, nuanced analysis of teacher housing initiatives: exploring when, where, why and how they may serve as meaningful interventions, and conversely, how they may reinforce existing inequalities.

“This work also contributes to a broader understanding of the evolving role school districts are being asked to play in addressing challenges that extend well beyond the traditional scope of public education."

Hunter's research is informed by cultural memory, storytelling and her identity as a triplet.

“For me this fellowship expands my capacity to continue organizing while carrying out my three-article dissertation in community,” Hunter said. “This research is honoring how our lineages understand healing and collective liberation as a life practice, so receiving this fellowship is an aligned and sacred responsibility.”

Ben Kirshner, professor of learning Sciences and human development added: “I’m thrilled that Lex has received this recognition from the Spencer Foundation and National Academy of Education. Lex’s study is innovative in the way she uses participatory methods to explore the ancestral sources of healing among youth of color. Lex brings theoretical sophistication and a deep ethic of care to her research, which promises to take our field in needed directions.”

Kirshner co-advises Hunter with Terrenda White, associate professor in the Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice program, who is also Bristol’s advisor. Both mentors are excited for what the future holds for Bristol and Hunter.

“This support often contributes to life-altering opportunities for the fellows," said White, a past NAEd/Spencer dissertation fellow herself. "At this critical time when we must continue to support educational research that expands our understanding of pressing challenges in society, these fellows and their work represent hope and a new future of creative and impactful scholarship.”

Two doctoral candidates, Jackquelin “Jackie” Bristol and Alexis “Lex” Hunter, have been selected for National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowships, one of the most prestigious honors for emerging education scholars. Bristol explores how teachers' access to affordable housing intersects with race, space and public education. Hunter investigates how youth of color in community organizing spaces view healing as intimately connected to social justice.

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Going with the flow: How Marisa Mendoza-Maurer is rewriting what education is and can be

Ichigo Takikawa — Wed, 21 May 2025 20:38:00 +0000

Going with the flow: How Marisa Mendoza-Maurer is rewriting what education is and can be Ichigo Takikawa Wed, 05/21/2025 - 14:38

When Marisa Mendoza-Maurer moved from Hawai’i to Colorado to begin her PhD program, she didn’t come alone. She brought with her a husband, two young children and a decade's worth of classroom experience as a secondary English teacher. The leap across an ocean and into a rigorous doctoral program is just one of the many monumental ventures she is undertaking.

Mendoza-Maurer is now in her second year in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder School of Education's Learning Sciences and Human Development program, a space that aligns with her passions for literacy, identity and compassion.

Her work seeks to bridge metacognition—thinking about one's thinking—with self-compassion, aiming to help adolescents construct more empowering narratives about themselves.

"So many students would tell me, 'I’m not a reader or writer,' or 'I’m stupid,'" she said. "I realized that the type of narrative that youth say about themselves, particularly as they negotiate their literacy identity, really matters."

Centering Compassion in the Classroom

That realization propelled her towards research and led Mendoza-Maurer to the Renee Crown Wellness Institute, where she facilitates a course for the compassion and dignity certificate that’s part of the School of Education's Master's in Teacher Leadership program, part of �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Online. There, she helps current educators learn to extend compassion not only to their students but also to themselves.

"It's really easy for educators to have negative self-talk, too," she said. "There’s this expectation to do it all and do it well. Consequently, a lot of us put guilt and judgment and self-blame on ourselves, saying that if we’re not able to grade all our papers on time, we’re failing. If we’re not attending to the students and the parents and doing our curriculum the way we planned, we’re not 'good teachers.'"

Things like meditative practices are part of the curriculum, reframing teaching as an emotional practice as much as an intellectual one.

"You can rewire your brain for compassion, it teaches you to be more mindful and aware of your thoughts," she said. "It’s about being mindful and aware enough to recognize the suffering, and then doing mindful practices to alleviate that suffering."

Mendoza-Maurer believes that at the end of the day, it’s about educators— and others—giving themselves grace. There’s a lot of pressure for both students and educators to be perfect, but she believes we are all learning.

“It’s about being comfortable with the mess and knowing how to be happy and compassionate regardless.”

Creative, Expressive Education

This ethos drives her work at The Laboratory for Ritual Arts & Pedagogy, or The RAP Lab, a creative scholarly community led by Assistant Professor Kalonji Nzinga. There, Mendoza-Maurer used the transdisciplinary research hub to explore her academic voice through oral recitation, particularly by way of spoken word poetry.

It was in that experimental space, she says, that she felt empowered in a way traditional learning environments hadn’t quite offered. She felt like she had found an avenue where she was able to have fun with theory and ideas and engage with them in a way that made sense to her.

While she acknowledges that there is certainly a place for the traditional academic journal, she also believes "there's an opportunity to make space for more creative forms of writing and publishing," she said. “I want to push forward different notions of what academic writing could look and sound like.”

From the RAP Lab, Mendoza-Maurer has found that there are others like her, critical scholars looking to be creative in their work. She recalls a member who plays the violin and facilitates community-based improv workshops to aid in music composition.

"People often say, 'It didn’t just make me think—it made me feel," she said of the lab’s community gatherings and open mic events.

She finds this particularly important, as many people will not read an academic journal, but they are more likely to listen to music or watch videos. After watching a performance, audience members have said “it's inspiring me to act on the things that I've learned,” she says, "I’m feeling it."

She believes that this is what good education should do: "It connects these ideas, and helps you want to do something to help the world."

The Power of Paddling and Persistence

Outside the classroom and research settings, Mendoza-Maurer finds renewal in another passion: outrigger canoe paddling.

It’s a sport she's practiced while living in Hawai’i, and it's deeply connected to Hawaiian culture and community.

Mendoza-Maurer turned to canoeing during a painful chapter of her life. When she was not selected for a competitive paddling race, she organized her own crossing of the Moloka’i Channel, the waterway between the islands of O'ahu and Moloka'i that is known for its mentally and physically grueling conditions for paddlers. In a one-woman canoe she paddled across 46 miles of open ocean, supported by friends and family in an escort boat.

“I just needed to prove to myself that I could do it. And I did,” she said.

Her journey from classroom teaching to PhD seminars, from ocean waters to Boulder's foothills, has been far from linear, but her passions flow and interconnect with deep intentionality. Mendoza-Maurer doesn’t just study identity development—she lives it.

"Ultimately, I want students and teachers alike to know: you are enough," she said.

When Marisa Mendoza-Maurer moved from Hawai’i to Colorado to begin her PhD, she didn’t come alone. She brought with her a husband, two young children and a decade's worth of classroom experience as a secondary English teacher. The leap, across an ocean and into a rigorous doctoral program, was nothing short of monumental.

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Two �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer early career honors

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