Sandra M Gonzales Ed.D. (bm6380)

• Ed.D., International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2009.
• M.Ed., International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2002.
•  M.A., Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, Antioch University, Seattle, Washington, 1996.
• Certificate, School of Social Work, Ethnic Minority Mental Health Specialist, University of Washington, 1996.
• B.S., Psychology, Michigan State University, 1992.

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1:30-4pm, 285 College of Education and 6:50-7:50pm, after class

Thursdays, 1:30-3pm, 285 College of Education, or by appointment

Research interests include the intersection of Bilingual/Bicultural and Family and Community Education with Indigenous and Latino Studies.  Family and Community Education is utilized as a foundation through which to examine learning from the perspective of the learner as opposed to the institution.  Such examination is critical to teacher education because it provides a useful lens through which one can examine the social, political and historical constructs that hinder educational collaborations between Latino students/families and the school, the community and society at large.  Also of significance is "autohistoria-teoría," a term coined by Gloria Anzaldúa, a Chicana literary scholar, to describe how personal narratives can become critical pedagogies that inspire social justice, dialogue and cross-cultural understanding. Autohistoria-teoría and Indigenous pedagogies are infused with the contemporary and the urban, to establish a new discourse within Bilingual/Bicultural Education that counters the effects of "subtractive" schooling models by creating an "additive" environment that uses stories and storytelling as a pedagogical tool to promote cultural, linguistic and intellectual diversity in the classroom. 

•  2016
  Wayne State University College of Education Scholarship Award

•  Education reform in Latino Detroit: Achievement gap or colonial legacy?
  *Gonzales, S. M.* and Shields, C. 2014 Race Ethnicity and Education 18(3)
• Belonging in the academy: Creating a “casa away from casa” for Latino undergraduate students
  *Gonzales, S.M.*, Brammer, E. C. and Sawilowsky, S. 2014 Journal of Hispanics in Higher Education 14(3)
• Abuelita Epistemologies: Counteracting Subtractive Schools in American Education
  Gonzales, S. M. 2014 Journal of Latinos and Education 14(1)
• “CEOs don’t cry.” “But, this one does”: Gender, Identity, Language and Culture at the Periphery of School Leadership in Latina/o Detroit
  *Gonzales, S. M.*, Ulloa, A. and Muñoz, C. 2016 National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal 33(2)

Associate Professor, Teacher Education 

Dr. Sandra M. Gonzales is an Associate Professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education in the Division of Teacher Education at Wayne State University. She received her master's and doctorate in International Educational Development from Columbia University, Teachers College.

Her research interests include: Latinx identity and belonging; K12 school reform efforts; culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning practices; and the revitalization of elder and Abuelita epistemologies, such as testimonio, stories and storytelling centering on Detroit’s Chicanx, Mexican and Indigenous Mexican community.

Gonzales coordinates the Native Development Network and Learning Community, a student success initiative for Native American students and allies at Wayne State University. She is also the faculty PI for the College of Education Upward Bound program, a TRIO pre-college initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education.