University of Illinois at Chicago
Educators, leaders, and advocates have the essential responsibility to establish and maintain conditions that facilitate meaningful positioning of learners, teachers, families, communities, organizations, and academic fields of study. For example, the positioning of learners affects their identities, participation, agency, and abilities to develop communicative, social, and academic competencies. In this session, Dean Kathryn Chval will share how positioning theory has influenced her roles as a researcher in mathematics classrooms, professional development facilitator, higher education leader, parent, and advocate for others.
Kathryn B. Chval is the Dean of the College of Education and Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Chval began her career teaching in elementary schools. Her commitment to educational solutions in education is rooted in her early experiences in under-resourced schools in the US and her preparation at UIC. Her research focuses on effective preparation models and support structures for mathematics teachers, effective elementary mathematics teaching for multilingual learners, and curriculum standards and policies.
Throughout her 32-year career in higher education, Chval has demonstrated leadership to enhance the culture of organizations including communication, transparency, and shared governance; teaching; academic programs; curriculum; student experience and success; diversity and inclusion; and global engagement.
Prior to joining UIC, Chval served in a variety of leadership roles at the University of Missouri including the Joanne H. Hook Dean’s Chair in Educational Renewal, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Co-Director of the Missouri Center for Mathematics and Science Teacher Education. She also served as the Acting Section Head for the Teacher Professional Continuum Program in the Division of Elementary, Secondary and Informal Science at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Early in her career, Dean Chval worked in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, & Computer Science and the College of Education at UIC from 1989-2001 as the co-Director on mathematics curriculum development projects and systemic change projects funded by NSF and the Illinois State Board of Education while she earned her graduate degrees.
Dean Chval is a respected scholar and leader in her field. She authored or co-authored more than 70 publications. She has secured more than $20 million in funding as a PI or Co-PI including NSF funding for the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum, Researching Science and Mathematics Teacher Learning in Alternative Certification Models, All Learn Mathematics, and Collaborative Research: Parents, Teachers, and Multilingual Children Collaborating on Mathematics Together. Additionally, she is the recipient of the prestigious NSF Early Career Award, titled A Study of Strategies and Social Processes that Facilitate the Participation of Latino English Language Learners in Elementary Mathematics Classroom Communities.
Dean Chval’s research accomplishments and scholarly production have been recognized nationally and internationally and demonstrated through her service in leadership capacities for multiple organizations. She served as chair of the NCTM Research Committee for two years where her responsibilities included defining strategic actions and policy directions for the mathematics education research community. She led an effort to establish a process for defining grand challenges in mathematics education to consider how substantial collective interdisciplinary research efforts could come together to create solutions with significant and lasting impact. She served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee Consensus Study on Supporting English Learners in STEM Subjects and chaired the Executive Committee of AERA’s Consortium of University and Research Institutions.
Her leadership, research, and service have been recognized with several awards and honors, including the 2018 TODOS Iris M. Carl Equity and Leadership Award, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) Early Career Award, INSIGHT Into Diversity Giving Back Award for Administrators, UIC College of Education Alumni Award, NSF Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence, and NSF Commendable Service Award.