Authored by VATESOL Board

Each year, the VATESOL Conference features a dynamic keynote speaker who represents the conference theme and the mission of VATESOL. This year, we are so excited to welcome Dr. Ayanna Cooper to VATESOL! 

Ayanna Cooper, Ed.D., is an educator, bestselling author, and advocate whose advocacy centers around linguistically diverse student populations. She is a U.S. Department of State English Language Specialist alumna, having served on projects in Kuwait and Brazil. Ayanna engages in real-talk storytelling to support leadership development for multilingual students, provides technical assistance to state and local education agencies, and teaches part-time at Howard University. Ayanna is the author of several publications including And Justice for ELs: A Leader’s Guide to Creating and Sustaining Equitable Schools, Black Immigrants in the United States; Essays on the Politics of Race, Language and Voice (co-editor), and as the founding editor of Language Magazine’s Pass the Mic series.

Ayanna's keynote focuses on Civil Rights & the Survey: Making Meaning, Moving Mindsets.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of Lau v. Nichols. The population of multilingual students in U.S. schools has become more culturally and linguistically diverse. How have we (and the field) evolved as language educators? What does the future of multilingual education look like? Ayanna poses critical questions, centered around civil rights obligations, that can be used as an opportunity to self-assess and redress with the goal of improving outcomes for multilingual students.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the 2024 VATESOL conference and for Ayanna's keynote!