The National Hispanic University (NHU) announced today that Dr. Eugene Garcia, a respected and recognized expert in early childhood and bilingual education, has joined its faculty as the new Distinguished Professor of Research.
Dr. Garcia joins NHU at a time when the demand for early childhood professionals with advanced degrees is on the rise. With his expertise and insights, Dr. Garcia will help develop and expand access to relevant early childhood programs that address the skills and knowledge needed to prepare today’s professionals for emerging opportunities in the field. He will also represent NHU as an advocate for early childhood education, a role where he will engage in and promote NHU research to influence public policy and practice in the field.
“In today’s multicultural learning community, it is imperative to teach child care and early childhood professionals the skills needed to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of today’s learners. I look forward to addressing these needs and joining the administrative team and faculty at NHU,” said Dr. Garcia.
Dr. Garcia is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, where he was dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education on the university’s Tempe campus and served as vice president for education partnerships. He is also a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was dean of the Graduate School of Education. In addition to serving on the faculty of several other institutions, Dr. Garcia has also served as a post-doctoral fellow in human development at Harvard University, a National Research Council fellow and a National Kellogg Leadership fellow.
He has also served as a director and senior officer in the U.S. Department of Education and has chaired the National Task Force on Early Education for Hispanics funded by the Foundation for Child Development. He is currently conducting research on effective schooling for linguistically and culturally diverse student populations and has been appointed to the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.