Martha Bigelow

Martha Bigelow is the Carmen Starkson Campbell Endowed Chair for Innovation in Teacher Development at the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). She holds a PhD from Georgetown University and specializes in second language acquisition, multicultural education, and the schooling experiences of immigrant and refugee youth. Her work emphasizes equity-driven pedagogies, culturally relevant teaching practices, and policies impacting language learners.

Key research interests include:

• Social and linguistic integration of East African adolescents
• Teacher education for equity
• Literacy development in multilingual contexts
• Policy analysis for marginalized learners

Dr. Bigelow has received numerous awards recognizing her scholarship and teaching, including the Charles A. Ferguson Award and TESOL Distinguished Research Award. Her publications span journals like the Modern Language Journal, Language Assessment Quarterly, and BMC Public Health, with a focus on participatory action research methodologies.

She advises graduate students across education disciplines, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and community-engaged research. Current initiatives include school-based interventions to improve immigrant youth engagement and international studies on language education in Somaliland, Vietnam, and India.