Dr. Anaida Colon-Muniz
President

Anaida Colón-Muñiz is a Professor of Scholarly Practice in the Attallah College of Educational Studies. For the last 18 years, she has served in various roles in the Attallah College. She is currently Director of Community Education at Centro Comunitario de Educación, a community based education center run by the Attallah College of Educational Studies in Santa Ana, California. She coordinated the Multiple Subject and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) programs for 14 years and still teaches in these programs. She also serves on the faculty and doctoral committees for the Culture and Curriculum Studies doctoral program. Dr. Colón-Muñiz received a Bachelor of Science degree from Binghamton University and a Master of Science from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. She became a bilingual teacher and teacher trainer for the New York City School District before pursuing a doctorate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

In 1982, she became a faculty member for California State University, Fullerton, and later worked at San Diego State University Foundations. She returned to the public schools, serving as program administrator for bilingual education, foreign languages, English language development and curriculum for three urban school districts in California, Rowland, Orange and Santa Ana, before returning to higher education at Chapman University. Her research and broad interests include bilingual education, transfer and maintenance of heritage languages and English language development. She also focuses her work on language policy in education here and abroad, and the language and culture of Puerto Rico. In addition, she continues to pursue issues of civil rights in education, literacy, and biliteracy affecting Latino youth. Dr. Colon-Muniz dedicates her life’s work to the improvement of educational opportunities for language diverse and poor children, with a special emphasis in on the role of teachers and teacher educators. She has served as National President for the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women and is currently the SoCal Chapter President. She also served as the State President for the California Association for Bilingual Education. She is currently on the Education Committee of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and is a Fellow for the Institute for Educational Leadership: Education Policy Fellowship Program. She also served as a key consultant in the development of El Sol Science and Arts Academy Charter in Santa Ana, California, an award-winning public charter school.