NYSABE 50 Year Anniversary conference

I was honored to receive the Dr. Antonia Pantoja Bilingual Education Advocacy award at the NYSABE 50 Year Anniversary conference. I am deeply grateful to Eva Garcia, Dr. Nancy Villareal De Adler, Dr. Eliezer Hernández, Ed.D. Dr. Bernice M., and David Baez for this honor.

In my book “The Fight for Equity in the Bronx: Changing Lives and Transforming Communities One Scholar at a Time”, I write about Dr. Pantoja, founder of Aspira, for her leadership, activism and her relentless fight in the 1970s for the legal entitlement of Bilingual Education for Puerto Rican and immigrant children in NYC.

The former US Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, Ed. D. presented Professor Ofelia Garcia Otheguy with a special recognition for her decades of research and body of work in Bilingual Education and the most respected scholar in the field. Also participating on a policy panel was New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa and New York State Regent Dr. Aramina Ferrer. The highlight was the Gladys Correa Award which was presented to Dr. Cecilia Espinosa Professor at Lehman College.