COE'S BLUM MARTINEZ HONORED FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION WORK

April 9, 2003

COE'S BLUM MARTINEZ HONORED FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION WORK

The New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education has honored Rebecca Blum Martinez, associate professor in the College of Education's Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies, with the Matias L. Chacon Hall of Fame Award, given annually since 1982 to recognize a New Mexican who made significant contributions to bilingual education at the state level.

Blum Martinez's work is concerned with how languages are learned, used and retained in bilingual communities and families - principally Spanish/English and southwestern indigenous communities. Her work is guided by the belief that in order to understand interactions between educational institutions and bilingual children, educators must learn from the students, their families and communities.

Blum Martinez has been a member of the Bilingual Advisory Committee to the New Mexico State Department of Education for many years. As chair of the task force on the Four Skills Test, she worked closely with legislators and other task force members in developing a proposal, which eventually funded the new Prueba, and the Spanish summer immersion institutes for Spanish/English bilingual teachers.

For the past 10 years, she has worked with the Pueblo of Cochiti, assisting with the Keres Language Revitalization Project. Additionally, she has been studying the language development of children in Spanish/English dual language immersion programs. In 1994, she served as president of the New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education. She is also co-founder of the Henry Pascual Excellence in Teaching Award. Blum Martínez has taught at the elementary, high school and college levels. She received both her undergraduate and master's degrees from UNM.

In 1993, she received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been at UNM since 1993. The New Mexico Association for Bilingual Association Bilingual Hall of Fame was established in 1977 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the bilingual education community of New Mexico.

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