Anita Bright, PhD, is a full professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department in the College of Education. A National Board Certified Teacher with over 20 years of experience as a K-12 public school educator, Dr. Bright is the ESOL program coordinator, and teaches courses in ESOL, social justice, and mathematics education, and is a doctoral program cohort leader. She also serves as the CAEP/ TESOL international program coordinator.
Dr. Bright’s primary research interests focus on racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression, and draw from critical theory and include explorations into the ways curricular materials may function as reproducers of culture, and the ways marginalization and oppression may influence students, their families, and the climate of educational settings. Her research also includes a focus on the ways law enforcement intersects with public school education, and the ways preservice teachers conceptualize ideas of social justice, and explores the ways they use discourse to explain, defend, and justify their thinking.