Biography
Dr. Etta Kralovec is an award-winning Professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona. She holds a doctorate in philosophy from Teachers College, Columbia University, from which she received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2018. In 2017, she received an honorary Master of Philosophy degree in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and in 2002, she received a distinguished alumni award from her undergraduate college, Lewis and Clark College. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1996 to establish a teacher education program at Africa University in Zimbabwe. Working closely with student editors, they co-authored the collection, Identity in Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Writings from Zimbabwe Students.
Under Kralovec’s direction, the UA M.Ed program received over 3 million dollars in federal funds to prepare science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers for Title One schools in Arizona border communities. Her program was awarded the Peter Likins Inclusive Excellence Award from the University of Arizona in 2015. She was named Distinguished Outreach Professor in 2015. The program uses equity literacy as the conceptual framework and has developed a contextualized approach to preparing critically-conscious teachers for the complex border educational environment. See: http://www.scientia.global/professor-etta-kralovec-inspiring-science-teachers-in-the-arizona-borderlands/
Kralovec’s work explores the importance of context in the preparation of teachers for schools in border communities. She has conducted comparative research on teacher education in Finland and on the Finnish/Russian border. Kralovec’s international work also includes video projects with high school students in Finland and Mexico.
In 2018, Kralovec became the Founding Director and Principal Investigator for the Bisbee Science Exploration and Research Center (BSERC). BSERC is dedicated to closing the opportunity gaps in informal STEM learning opportunities along the border and connecting the expertise at UA with border communities, by sponsoring Science Cafes and Science Friday programs for local school children. In her role as Principal Investigator for BSERC, Kralovec leads the community engagement and evaluation processes for the Bisbee Science Lab. That works includes on-going surveys, exhibit comments, and interviews.
Kralovec was named Director of the Borderlands Education Center in 2019.
Degrees
- Ed.D. Philosophy
- Teachers College Columbia University, New York, New York
- John Dewey and the Ecological Perspective
Awards
- 2018 Distinguished Alumni
- Teachers College, Columbia University, Spring 2018
- Honoray M.Phil Degree in Human Ecology
- College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, Spring 2018
Interests
Teaching
My teaching includes course work in qualitative research methodology and involves coaching graduate students through their Participatory Action Research projects.
Research
My research interests include community-based qualitative research methodology applied to the classroom. I am interested in the use of student voice, testimonios and photo voice in classroom-based research. As PI of the Bisbee Science Lab, I am working on bringing informal STEM learning to border communities. I am the PI on two NSF grants: Noyce Border Scholars (#1557369) and the newly awarded Noyce Border Fellows: Building Culturally Competent STEM Teacher Leaders for rural, High-need Schools Near the U.S. border with Mexico (#1950129)
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Chapters
- Orozco, R. A., Kralovec, H. G., Riitaoja, A., Layne, H., Liu, H., Paavola, H., Orozco, R. A., Kralovec, H. G., Riitaoja, A., Layne, H., Liu, H., & Paavola, H. (2017). Constructing norms and silences on power issues related to diversities displayed in school spaces: Analysis of schools in Finland and the United States.. In Silent Partners in Multicultural Education.
- Kralovec, H. G., & Lunsford, L. G. (2015). Crossing borders on the border: Implementation of a mentoring network. In Mentoring for New Teachers and Principals: The Changing Landscape. Vol 4: Perspectives in Mentoring Series. Information Age Publishing.
