Meet the Team

Patricia Morita-Mullaney, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Patricia “Trish” Morita-Mullaney is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Purdue University. She is a licensed K-12 teacher, coach, and administrator from Arizona and Indiana where she taught and led ELL adult education, middle and elementary school. She currently serves as the Indiana Chapter for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (INTESOL) journal editor and was recently recognized for her outstanding teaching contributions with Indiana in-service teachers. Her areas of research include the intersections between language learning, gender and race and how these factors inform the identity acts of educators of bilingual students. Dr. Morita-Mullaney oversees all PUEDE and LEVERAGING project components, including administration, staff supervision, finances, recruitment, instruction, data collection, analysis and meeting timelines, benchmarks, and evaluations. When she is not dedicating her time to researching and educating at the university, she enjoys running in road races, sewing, traveling and most importantly, spending quality time with her spouse, 18-year-old twins, and dog.
More about Dr. Morita-Mullaney

Jennifer Renn, Ph.D.

Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Jennifer Renn is an Associate Research Scientist in the College of Education at Purdue University. As co-Investigator, Dr. Renn manages the design and implementation of the research components of Project PILAR and supervises the project’s graduate student assistants. Prior to joining Purdue, she was the Director of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C., where she directed the English for Heritage Language Speakers Program and worked in K-12 English language assessment research. She was an Institute of Education Sciences postdoctoral scholar in early child education at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) from 2010-2013. Dr. Renn has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in general linguistics, language instruction, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, assessment, and field methods at institutions including Georgetown University, George Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Purdue University. She uses mixed methods approaches to investigate topics related to sociolinguistics, language assessment, educator training, instructional coaching, dual language bilingual education, and language variation and identity. Dr. Renn is an avid runner and enjoys traveling and hiking with her husband and her border collie.

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Wayne E. Wright, Ph.D.

Co-principal Investigator

Dr. Wayne E. Wright is Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Programs and Faculty Development, and is Professor and the Barbara I. Cook Chair of Literacy and Language in the College of Education at Purdue University. He is co-editor of the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, Editor of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, and Co-Editor of the Bilingual Education and Bilingualism book series published by Multilingual Matters. He is also the co-author of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (6th Ed., 2017), Co-Editor of the Handbook of Bilingual and Multilingual Education (2015), and author of Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice (2nd ed., 2015). Dr. Wright’s research focuses on language and education policy, and effective and equitable programs for English language learners and other linguistic minority students. He was a bilingual (Khmer) and ESL teacher in Southern California and was a former Fulbright Scholar in Cambodia. Prior to Purdue, he was a faculty member in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio from 2004 – 2014. In 2016 he was the recipient of the Charles A. Ferguson Award for Outstanding Scholarship. Dr. Wright’s project responsibilities include overseeing the development of the ELD framework for the pre-service undergraduate EL course (EDCI 370), the in-service graduate EL courses (EDCI 530 and 559) and the implementation of the ELD framework into two literacy methodology courses (EDCI 326 and 361). He also supervises the creation of materials for dissemination for educational services centers.

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Virak Chan

Preservice Course Convener

Virak Chan is a Clinical Assistant Professor in literacy and language. Courses Dr. Chan usually teaches include EDCI 37001 Teaching and Learning English as a New Language, EDCI 53000 English Language Development (online), EDCI 51900 Teaching English Language Learners (online), and EDCI61450 Seminar in Bilingualism and Multilingualism. Dr. Chan is a native of Cambodia and is a program leader for a summer study abroad program to Cambodia where students engage in rich Cambodian history and culture though meaningful cultural excursions, learn methods for teaching English Language Learners and students with gifts and talents, and help teach ESL to local K-12 students. His research and publication is in the area of language and education policies and practices for linguistically and culturally diverse students, teacher development, bilingual education, and linguistic landscape.

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Annie García

Project Manager

Annie García is the Project Manager and Bilingual Coordinator of Families and Community for Project PILAR. She is currently pursuing and Ph.D. in Literacy and Language and her dissertation focus is microaggressions, grounded in CRT, LatCrit, and testimonio. As the project manager, her responsibilities include communicating with participant teachers, overseeing the data collection of the family component, collecting and organizing classroom data, and recruitment of future cohorts. Ms. Garcia previously taught at ENL, Heritage Spanish, and Spanish I, II, and III at the high school level for ten years. She has three children, two of whom are current Boilermakers! When she is not busy working on the projects, you can often find her on a fall evening watching her youngest play football for Jefferson High School. She enjoys spending time with her children, whether that be lively discussion about life or intense games of Cranium or Uno.

Kelly J. Farkas

Graduate Student

Kelly J. Farkas serves as the bilingual data analyst for the project. Currently working toward a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Spanish Education from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in Education Administration from Butler University in 2010.  She brings 30 years of experience in the field of second language acquisition to the team, having worked in both public and private school systems in the state.  She has served populations from ages pre-K through adult having worked as a Spanish language classroom teacher, a World Language Department Chair, a Building Principal, a Hispanic Liaison and a Purdue University Supervisor for Transition to Teaching student teachers. Kelly is our testing coordinator and works with our partner schools to organize the implementation of the evaluation platform that gauges student proficiency. She is excited to be a member of a research team working to prepare and empower Indiana educators, families, and community members to acknowledge and meet the unique needs of multilingual students across the state. Kelly’s love for Spanish language and culture was sparked as a teenager when she was an exchange student living with a family in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her most memorable experience immersed in the language was completing the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain on horseback with a group of friends in 2009. A former Indiana Hoosier, Kelly has fully accepted the conversion to being a Boilermaker.  Recently transplanted to West Lafayette, you may find her on the pickleball courts or attending Purdue sporting events with her husband. Boiler up!

Yangyang Zhu

Graduate Student

Yangyang Zhu is a doctoral candidate in Literacy and Language Education at Purdue University. Her research focuses on international teaching assistants’ teacher identity, teacher education, English language learners, bilingual ducation, narrative inquiry, and feminism theory. Before her doctoral studies, she worked as a high school English teacher and then as a TA at a university in China.

Priya M. Dabak

Graduate Student

Priya M. Dabak is a PhD student in the Literacy and Language Education program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language and cognition, and classroom language policy, with a broader focus on multilingual education. She holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics and has eight years of experience as a language teacher, administrator, and curriculum consultant in both urban and rural K-12 contexts across India. Outside of her research, Priya enjoys reading, history, and travel. She loves discovering new places, both through books and in the world around her.

Santiago Parra

Graduate Student

Santiago Parra is a second-year PhD Student and Research Assistant in the Literacy and Language Education program at Purdue University, holding a Masters’ degree in Hispanic Linguistics from the same institution. Santiago’s research interests focus on dual language bilingual education (DLBE), with an emphasis on teacher training and teachers’ ideologies and beliefs. Currently, he contributes to projects addressing DLBE teachers’ ideologies and beliefs and supporting rural teachers through the integration of English language development and trauma-informed practices. His work integrates linguistic insights and educator training to foster inclusive, asset-based learning environments. 

Alejandro Baquero-Sierra

Graduate Student

Alejandro Baquero-Sierra is a Ph.D. student at Purdue University studying literacy and language education. He graduated from the National University of Colombia with a B.Sc. in psychology and the Superior School of Public Administration with a Master’s in public administration. He worked as a research adviser and psychosocial coordinator for early childhood development programs in Colombia before joining Purdue University. As a graduate research assistant, he currently collaborates with Dr. Morita-Mullaney and the project group. His research interests include early literacy development, family engagement in dual language education, and trauma-informed pedagogy.

Melinda White

Graduate Student

Melinda White has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Secondary Education and a master’s degree in Spanish Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition, both from Purdue University. After 13 years teaching Spanish and French at the Jr. High/High School level, she is back at Purdue working toward her Ph.D. in World Language Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Melinda acts as a bilingual data analyst for the project. She is learning so much from transcribing coaching interviews, data from family videos, and observing bilingual classrooms.  Her future career plans include building teacher education programs in world languages and preparing pre-service teachers for the multicultural classroom. Her personal plans include international travel, improving her Spanish, French, and Portuguese, and learning at least two more languages.

Rong Zhang

Graduate Student

Rong Zhang works as a research assistant in the Leveraging, PUEDE, and PILAR projects. She is a doctoral candidate of the Language and Literacy Program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Rong’s research interests include family language and literacy practices, multimodal literacies, bilingual education, and children’s picture book reading. Rong also takes an active part in the Literacy and Language Development Clinic to promote reading and learning with children’s literature regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, she works as the journal assistant of First Opinion Second Reaction journal. Before being a doctoral student, she completed her master’s degree in English as a second/foreign language. She also had experiences teaching English and Mandarin to ELL students in China, America, and Mexico. Rong is also an ELL herself as she is fluent in Chinese and English. In spare time, Rong enjoys birdwatching. Her balcony always welcomes visitors of robins, cardinals, and jays.