Fulbright Scholar: Education Professor Selected to Study in Paraguay

Katherine Mortimer, Ph.D., UTEP associate professor of teacher education, received a Fulbright Scholar Award to spend four months in Asuncion, Paraguay teaching about translanguaging theories and collaboratively studying language practices with Paraguayan colleagues.

Katherine Mortimer, Ph.D., UTEP associate professor of teacher education, received a Fulbright Scholar Award to spend four months in Asuncion, Paraguay teaching about translanguaging theories and collaboratively studying language practices with Paraguayan colleagues.

Translanguaging theories offer new ways of understanding language use that are based on bilingual communities’ practices. Mortimer and colleagues’ research will explore how these theories might help improve bilingual education for Guarani- and Spanish-speaking children.

“We are so excited that Dr. Mortimer has received a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award!” said College of Education Dean Clifton Tanabe, Ph.D. “We are looking forward to seeing how her teaching and research in Paraguay might impact her bilingual education work right here in our region.”

Alongside Paraguayan colleagues at the Instituto Superior de Lenguas of the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Mortimer will study how teachers and students already use translanguaging practices to support learning and how these successful practices might inform bilingual education program design, curriculum and teacher education.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity for collaboration with my Paraguayan and UTEP colleagues,” said Mortimer, who will spend two months in Paraguay’s capital city each summer in 2023 and 2024. “We hope that this collaboration will help generate dialogue about translanguaging theories and inform decision-making about bilingual education for bilingual regions like those in Paraguay and El Paso.”

Last Updated on May 25, 2023 at 12:00 AM | Originally published May 25, 2023

By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications