{"id":11938,"date":"2026-06-03T20:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11938"},"modified":"2026-06-03T20:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:02:14","slug":"social-justice-scholar-named-csufs-outstanding-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11938","title":{"rendered":"Social justice scholar named CSUF\u2019s Outstanding Professor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Who exactly are social justice scholars? They\u2019re professionals who help transform classrooms so they reflect society\u2019s wide diversity of students. Conversely, they remind us of how school systems based on only one language and one way of living can negatively influence not only students who speak two or more languages, but they also inhibit the growth of English-only students.<\/p>\n

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For her many years of dedicated service as a social justice scholar, Alison Dover, Cal State Fullerton professor of secondary education, recently received the university\u2019s 2026 Outstanding Professor Award, the top honor bestowed upon CSUF faculty. Her work \u2014 rooted in teaching, scholastic research and mentoring \u2014 is continually focused on advancing social, racial and economic equity in secondary education classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we have this incredible diversity here in California and in our greater world,\u201d Dover said. \u201cSome 40% of students in the state speak a language other than English at home. Yet our schools haven\u2019t kept up (with this diversity). The curriculum and ways of communicating in the classroom still reflect a monolithic student body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among her many roles, Dover directs and serves as the graduate adviser for the university\u2019s Master of Science in Transformative Teaching in Secondary Education program. \u201cWe need to create educational systems in which everyone truly benefits,\u201d she said. \u201cYet so many of our schools and classrooms are still grounded in English only. Speaking only one language, or being comfortable interacting with speakers of one language, is a tremendous deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo (with transformative teaching), we create spaces in which students entering our classrooms speaking more than one language are growing in the language that they speak, while developing their skills in English. In doing so, they\u2019re also helping kids who are raised in monolingual English households stretch themselves\u00a0linguistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dover grew up in a working-class family, which affected her future career path. \u201cMy parents always placed tremendous value in education,\u201d she said. \u201cThe idea that college was possible, that was just ingrained.\u201d<\/p>\n

After earning bachelor\u2019s degrees in women\u2019s studies and English from Tufts University, Dover eventually earned a master\u2019s degree and a doctorate in social justice education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. \u201cOther students in my classes would go skiing in Europe over the weekend, while I was hungry, struggling with food insecurity,\u201d Dover said. \u201cStill, I realized that not every working-class kid had my opportunities. So I dedicated not just my career, but my life, to creating social, economic and educational justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with teaching and mentoring, this ongoing dedication involves rigorous academic research. The result: 32 scholarly publications, 75 local, national and international presentations, and two books. One of them, \u201cRadically Inclusive Teaching with Newcomer and Emergent Plurilingual Students: Braving Up,\u201d co-authored with fellow CSUF professor of secondary education Fernando Rodr\u00edguez-Valls, won two national awards.<\/p>\n

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Their academic rigor has led to real-world change. Dover and Rodr\u00edguez-Valls serve as co-directors of the Summer Language Academy, now in its 11th year in Southern California. \u201cIt\u2019s a summer arts- and literacy-based program for plurilingual students,\u201d Dover said. (\u201cPlurilingual\u201d is preferred over \u201cbilingual,\u201d since many of these students speak more than two languages.) \u201cWe\u2019ve worked with about 1,400 students and 200 educators. Students who are silenced or marginalized in their day-to-day lives engage in some really robust experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to her efforts, Dover has received more than $800,000 in research funding, including $400,000 earmarked for Project LEARN (Language, Equity and Action Research with Newcomer Students), a program that built on the success of the Summer Language Academy and serves as a prime example of Dover\u2019s ability to apply research to practice.<\/p>\n

Before wrapping up in 2024, Project LEARN supported newcomer students and their teachers as they collaboratively developed research questions based on the students\u2019 experiences, gathered data and then used their findings to improve the students\u2019 classroom experiences.<\/p>\n

Some of the master\u2019s students first entering CSUF\u2019s Transformative Teaching in Secondary Education program aren\u2019t brimming with confidence. \u201cEarly on, one student was in tears,\u201d Dover said, citing one example of many. \u201cNow she\u2019s gained this sense of leadership within her cohort, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see her bringing her expertise to a wider national education community over the course of her career. She\u2019s now telling me about the research article she\u2019s planning to write next year as her capstone project.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This kind of transformation, fostered by Dover and her CSUF colleagues, mirrors the very same positive changes made by the students of those secondary education teachers Dover has mentored.<\/p>\n

Dover remains grateful for the opportunities furnished by Cal State Fullerton. \u201cIt\u2019s such a privilege to work in a space like this,\u201d she said. \u201cThe university really has a deep commitment to our students. \u2026 I work with some of the most brilliant minds around, and I feel tremendously grateful to be able to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alison Dover’s work is focused on advancing social, racial and economic equity in secondary education classrooms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSocial justice scholar named CSUF\u2019s Outstanding Professor - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11938\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social justice scholar named CSUF\u2019s Outstanding Professor - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alison Dover's work is focused on advancing social, racial and economic equity in secondary education classrooms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11938\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T20:02:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"Social justice scholar named CSUF\u2019s Outstanding Professor\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T20:02:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938\"},\"wordCount\":863,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b71e92dcbbe8c0acf373476f123a996c.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=11938\",\"name\":\"Social justice scholar named CSUF\u2019s Outstanding Professor - 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