Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series Continues with Jungmin Kwon of Michigan State University

On November 4, the College of Education community gathered for our second Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Lecture of the 2024-2025 academic year: “Understanding the Transnational Lives and Literacies of Immigrant Children” featuring Jungmin Kwon, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. The event was generously co-sponsored by the University of Utah Asia Center.

An introduction by Dean Laanan and Wenyang Sun, Ph.D., assistant professor of Education, Culture, & Society, set the stage for Kwon’s impactful presentation. Kwon then shared transformative research findings from her extensive work with immigrant children, highlighting their unique literacies and meaning-making processes as they navigate the world through multiple languages.

Kwon framed her research through several guiding questions:

• How do children maintain connections with family members outside the United States?
• What transnational practices do they and their parents participate in, and what significance do these practices hold for them?
• How do children envision their futures?
• What languages do they speak at home, and what books and media do they engage with?

Kwon emphasized a child-centered approach in her research, utilizing interviews, photographs, self-portraits, artifacts, drawings, and maps. This methodology positions children as knowing subjects capable of teaching others, including their own teachers and other adults, about their lived experiences. 

Before discussing strategies for integrating children’s multilingual and transnational expertise into the classroom, Kwon shared a powerful quote from bell hooks: “The first paradigm that shaped my pedagogy was the idea that the classroom should be an exciting place, never boring.” 

Among the strategies Dr. Kwon recommended for educators were reading transnational stories aloud and partnering with immigrant families. She emphasized that “Immigrant parents are the first teachers of bilingual children and can be the strongest partners and advocates in developing children’s literacy.”

This presentation resonated deeply with CoE students, especially those studying multilingual learners. Again, special thanks to Wenyang Sun, assistant professor of ECS, who played a crucial role in facilitating this collaboration between the College of Education and the U of U Asia Center.

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce our next Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Event on December 2, 2024, featuring Kara Mitchell Viesca, Ph.D., professor of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She will share her visionary approach to “Co-imagining/Creating Transformative Educational Futures in a Shifting Global Landscape Through Social Design-based Teacher Education Research Collectives.” We look forward to bringing the community together once more on Dec. 2 as we continue to explore these vital topics!