Bio

Dr. Maria Coady is the Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Education at North Carolina State University and a Professor of Multilingual Education. Her work focuses on Multilingual Learners (ML), rural communities, and the preparation of educators who work with MLs. Prior to that, she was a Professor of ESOL and Bilingual Education at the University of Florida. Dr. Coady received her doctor of philosophy degree (PhD) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she studied bilingualism and bilingual education. She was a US Department of Education Title VII Fellow (1998-2001). Her dissertation examined Irish-English bilingual schools, Gaelscoileanna, in the Republic of Ireland. Using a lens of critical place-conscious education, systemic equality, and equity, Dr. Coady examines multilingualism, bilingualism, rural education, bilingual education, teacher and leader education, and language policies. In addition to funding from the US Department of Education, she has been funded by the Ford Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the WT Grant Foundation, and has consulted for the US Department of Justice and Office for Civil Rights for ML students and families.

Internationally, Dr. Coady has prepared educators in countries such as China, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2021-22 she served as Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, with the US Fulbright Commission. Her books include Connecting School and the Multilingual Home: Theory and Practice for Rural Educators (2019), The Coral Way Bilingual Program (2020), Why TESOL (5th ed., 2018, with E. W. Ariza), Early Language Learning Policies in the 21st Century (Ed., with S. Zein, 2021), and Educating Multilingual Students in Rural Schools: Illuminating Diversity in Rural Communities in the United States (with P. Golombek and N. Marichal). Her forthcoming book is Spaces of Hope for Rural Multilingual Learners in Four Educational Movements (P. Gorski Equity Series).

Area(s) of Expertise

Multilingualism, bilingualism, rural education, rural Dual Language Immersion (rDLI), multiliteracy, critical place, ML teacher and leader education, ML family engagement.