Alissa Blair, Ph.D.

Alissa Blair is an Assistant Professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the University of Arkansas. Alissa’s research focuses on the education of K-12 multilingual learners, in particular meaning-making discourse in academic contexts at school and beyond. Her research interests include academic language, bilingual education, family engagement, and teacher education. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including TESOL Quarterly, Review of Research in Education, Bilingual Research Journal, Language and Education, and Theory Into Practice, among others. Alissa earned her B.A. in Philosophy and Spanish at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana and her M.Ed. at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to completing her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in ESL and Bilingual Education, Alissa lived in Chile for five years where she worked as a ChACE (ACE in Chile) teacher at Saint George’s College and teacher trainer at the Chilean Ministry of Education English Opens Doors Program. For ENL, Alissa has taught “Foundations for Teaching Second Language Learners” and the capstone course “Collaboration and Professional Development” and currently is fortunate to collaborate with ENL in research and professional development initiatives. Alissa is passionate about working with educators and families to make schooling more equitable for linguistically and culturally diverse children and youth. She has teaching experience at the elementary, high school, and college levels, although parenting two young emergent bilingual children most tests everything she knows and believes about education.