Faculty member and SSE dean named research fellows for Latinx Education Research Center

Dr. Tim Monreal and Dean James L. Rodríguez represent scholars across the country

By California State University, Bakersfield

December 2^nd, 2020

Dr. Timothy Monreal, assistant professor in the Teacher Education Department, was recently named a research fellow at the Latinx Education Research Center (LERC) at Santa Clara University. He joins Dr. James L. Rodriguez, dean of the School of Social Sciences and Education (SSE), who was named as a founding research fellow two years ago.

The research fellows consists of a group of scholars from across the United States to address pressing educational issues impacting the Latinx community.

“It’s an honor to be included with a group of scholars who are committed to better understanding various aspects of the Latina/o/x experience with a focus on education and with the intention of serving and contributing in positive ways to diverse communities,” said SSE dean, Dr. Rodríguez.

“It’s pretty humbling, especially at this stage in my career,” said Dr. Monreal.

The goal of the LERC is to facilitate meaningful conversations and contributions, while also spotlighting publications and projects from scholars, as well as collaborate with opportunities, events, and more to transform the education and well-being of Latinx youth, families and communities.

Dean Rodríguez added that the LERC will allow he and Dr. Monreal “to meet and share work and ideas with other academics who are also doing research on Latinos and to be able to talk about new research ideas and to develop new collaborations.”

For the last several years, Dr. Monreal’s research has dealt primarily with the U.S. south and how it is relatively new, but rapidly expanding the Latinx community, as well as the burdens on the teachers and the opportunities that are available to them.

Overall, Dr. Monreal is trying to better understand the experience of Latinx teachers to they can better support students, as well as remain and thrive in the profession.

The research Dr. Monreal and Dean Rodríguez are working on also allows them to collaborate and join conversations with other scholars.

“That’s the most exciting thing, to really be able to be in conversation with some of these scholars and to have CSUB in that conversation, as well,” said Dr. Monreal.

Currently, Dr. Monreal is working on expanding the conversations on Latinx communities and journal manuscripts, such as what they look like in the southwest, outside of Texas.

“The biggest thing for me is to just be able to learn, to grow and to really lean on individuals that have just been doing great work for a really long time,” said Dr. Monreal.

Similarly, Dean Rodríguez’s research focuses on various aspects of the Latinx educational experience including how Latinx families support children and adolescents in their educational journey.

Through that, he will observe a few factors, including whether they are immigrants or non-immigrants, whether they are bilingual or monolingual and their adaptation culturally and socially, particularly if they are either immigrants or from immigrant families.

Dean Rodríguez added that the idea is to “bring together scholars who are doing research on Latino populations and to exchange ideas including new, innovative ways to disseminate the research with other researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and with Latino communities across the country.”

“Both Dr. Monreal and I have the honor of representing CSUB and the School of Social Sciences and Education as LERC Research Fellows and we’re able to share research, information, and ideas with CSUB colleagues and students in various programs” said Dean Rodríguez. “We’re also able to share with educational and community partners.”

While LERC is a national research center, Drs. Monreal and Rodríguez hope their service as research fellows will impact local Kern County communities.

CSUB is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution, with over 63% of students identifying as Hispanic or Latinx.

“I think it’s about bringing the work at LERC, whether that work is the research itself or the conversations around policy, practice and innovation, to CSUB and to communities here in the San Joaquin Valley and North LA County,” said Dean Rodríguez.