New Faculty Spotlight: Elizabeth Montaño

Elizabeth Montaño, EdD returned to the School of Education last year as an Associate Professor of Teaching in Education. She is the first in the School’s history to hold this new teaching professorship title. Montaño previously served as a Lecturer and Supervisor of Teacher Education from 2013–2015. Now she primarily teaches in the CANDEL and undergraduate minor programs. In Fall 2019 she will become the Co-Director of CANDEL, alongside Prof. Kevin Gee. Their duties will include reviewing the sequencing of CANDEL courses and faculty advising models.

“I’m excited to be serving in this unique Associate Professor of Teaching in Education position,” said Montaño. “I’m able to really focus on teaching and understanding how to better prepare our students. I’ll be studying current teaching practices across all of the programs in our School and collaborating with my colleagues to develop innovative teaching practices. This professorship in teaching role allows me to delve deeply into pedagogical practices in the field of education.”

Montaño brings experience in teacher education and educational research to her new position. In addition to her EdD from Loyola Marymount University, she holds a California Single Subject Credential in English with CLAD Certification and earned a master’s degree in Education: Language, Literacy and Culture from UC Berkeley.

Montaño was a charter school teacher for 11 years and began doing education research while she was still a teacher. “I had a team come into my own classroom,” she said, “and we created curricula around student voice and language in formal versus informal settings. I’ve always been interested in not just the kids in my classroom but also about the larger educational world. My own experiences inform my research, and in addition to work on literacy and language in classrooms, I’ve recently been researching charter school teacher unionization and teachers who are speaking out on behalf of their working conditions.”

As Montaño serves in her new role, she will continue putting into practice the passion for social justice that she discovered as an undergraduate student. “As a first-generation student, I thought a lot about my positionality in college,” she said. “After an uninspiring quarter as a business major, I started working with middle school students in Los Angeles. Seeing firsthand the inequities students were facing sparked my interest in education. It was an eye-opening experience that made me realize how important it is to be in classrooms. I’ve always loved learning, and I’m excited to be in a position now where I can keep contributing to the future of education.”