Alumna Awarded TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant

Freeman successfully competed with a number of outstanding applicants from 34 different countries. Proposals are solicited annually that are clearly related to TIRF’s research priorities. Freemans’s proposal was entitled, “Using the Danielson Framework to Evaluate the Teachers of English Language Learners in Washington State.” This is the first time a graduate of the Institute wins this awards. Middlebury Institute Professor Kathi Bailey who also serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees at TIRF says of Freeman’s proposal: “It fit nicely into the TIRF research priority of “Language Planning and Policy.”

Freeman says she feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to study at the Institute. “Because of the high challenge and high support afforded me by my professors, Kathi Bailey, Susan Conrad, Martha Clark Cummings, Lynn Goldstein, Dean Ruth Larimer, Peter Shaw, Jean Turner, and Leo van Lier, I was not only well prepared for my life as a classroom teacher and a teacher educator, but was also competitive enough in the field of research to be awarded the 1995 TESOL/ Prentice Hall Regents Larry Anger Fellowship for Graduate Studies for my research on math word problem solving with elementary school ESL students and to feel prepared for my doctoral studies at Anaheim University.  Over the years, I have kept in touch with all my professors through emails and conference attendance and more recently through visits to Monterey and classes at Anaheim University with Dr. Bailey.  I believe it is a testament to Monterey’s profound influence on my professional life that I have been awarded a 2018 TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant.´