Associate Professor

I am a faculty member in the College of Education & Social Services at the University of Vermont where I teach courses in the Education for Cultural and Diversity (ECLD) Minor program. In addition, I teach courses that are diversity-required race and racism in the U.S. and service learning. I am currently involved in community-engaged research especially with immigrant families, family literacy, and digital literacy projects.

My research and service passions include diversity, equity, and inclusion, family and school professional partnership, digital literacies, and educational policy and language. I am interested in work that is generative, creative in problem-solving, and is community-based addressing the needs of families and youth. Prior to higher education, I taught in a bilingual (Spanish/English) classroom in a Chicago Public School and I also taught English as a second language in adult education. As a higher education representative, I currently serve on the Vermont Advisory Working Group for Ethnic Studies for the State Agency of Education.

Research and/or Creative Works

Family and School Professional Partnership Work
Project RAFT (Relationships between Families & Teachers)
Project RAFT

Vermont Coalition for Ethnic Studies & Social Equity in Schools
The VCESES  is a statewide coalition led by a multicultural and multigenerational group including people of color from various racial and ethnic groups, anti-poverty, disability rights, and LGBTQIA advocates.
http://ethnicstudiesvt.org/

Publications

Reyes, C. (2019) Practicing “unsettled listening” to the migration narratives of young adolescent refugees. Special Issue: Trauma informed Practices. Middle School Journal, 50(4), 16-25.

Reyes, C. (2019). An English learner as a cultural broker for youth interviews. The Qualitative Report, 24(3), 532-549.

Reyes, C., and Bishop, P. (2019). What visualizing strategic reading means for young adolescents. Journal of Visual Literacy, 39(4).

Gerstl-Pepin, C., and Reyes, C. (2018). Entering the political fray: The role of public education scholars in media debates. In Baroutsis, A., Riddle, S., and Thomson, P. (Eds.) Making Education Research Public. (pps. 99-118). Abingdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge.

Tinkler, A., Tinkler, B., Reyes, C., & Elkin, S. (2018). Critical service-learning: Learning through experience to advance teacher education. Journal of Experiential Education, 42(1), 65-78.

Reyes, C. & Brinegar, C. (2016) Lessons learned: Using the literacy histories of education students to equitize literacy instruction for young adolescents. International Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 59, 327-337.

Gerstl-Pepin, C. & Reyes, C.  (Eds.) (2015) Reimagining the Public Intellectual in Education: Making Scholarship Matter. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, Inc.

Reyes, C. & Netcoh, S. (2015). A nascent look at theoretical frameworks in middle level education research. Middle Grades Review. Vol. 1, No. 1, Article 3.

Yoon, Malu, Schaefer, Reyes, & Brinegar (2015) Comprehensive and critical review: Current middle grades research and practice: 2000-2013. Middle Grades Research Journal, Vol. 10(1), 1-16.

Brinegar, K. & Reyes, C. (2014). “Becoming a literate being:” Pre-Service teachers using digital stories to reflect on personal narratives. In Malu, K. & Schaefer, M.B. Research on Teaching and Learning Literacy with Young Adolescents. Vol. 10 in The Handbook of Research in the Middle Level Education. Information Age Publishing.

Reyes, C. & Bishop, P. (2014). The hazards of engaging teacher identity in a pre-service middle level program. In Jenlink, P. (Ed.) Teaching Identity and the Struggle for Recognition: Meeting the Challenges of a Diverse Society. Chpt. 5. Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, MD.

Reyes, C. & Clark, B. (2013). Exploring writing through the digital story with English Language Learner: A collaborative approach. In Nagle, J. (2013). Creating Collaborative Learning Communities to Improve English Learner Instruction: College Faculty, School Teachers, and Pre-service Teachers Learning Together in the 21st Century. Information Age Publishing, pps. 43-60.

Awards and Recognition

George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award, University of Vermont (2019)

Joseph A. Abruscato Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, College of Education & Social Services (2019)

John Dewey Educator’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Education & Social Services (2015)

ALANA Faculty Teaching Award, ALANA, University of Vermont (2012)

Service Learning Faculty Fellow from CUPS Office, UVM: An award for faculty that engages in service learning in the classroom, as well as research. (2011)

Educational Alliance Fellow, Project Brite: Diversity and English Language Learners. Brown University, Providence, RI from U.S. Department of Education: National work that promotes and integrates diversity in a teacher education program. (2007)

Associations and Affiliations

American Educational Research Association (AERA), National Middle School Association (NMSA), National Reading Conference, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Cynthia Reyes

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

  • Educational policy
  • English language learners
  • Immigrant and refugee populations
  • Social justice
  • Technology and learning

Education

  • Ph.D. in Reading, Writing, and Literacy from University of Illinois, Chicago
  • M.Ed. in Educational Studies/Instructional Leadership from University of Illinois, Chicago
  • B.A. in Spanish and Communications from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN

Contact

Email:

Cynthia.Reyes@uvm.edu

Phone:
  • (802) 656-9642
Office Location:

Waterman 407

Courses Taught

ECLD 056 (D1) Language, Race, & School Policy (Fall & Spring)
ECLD 102/202 Bilingual Education Policy (Fall)
ECLD 189 (SL) Teaching Reading & Writing to English Learners (Spring)