Heather Olson Beal

Dr. Heather K. Olson Beal taught Spanish at the secondary and post-secondary levels and obtained a Master of Arts in modern languages at Texas A&M University before completing a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University. She is the faculty co-chair of the Organization for Women's Leadership and Excellence (OWLE), a campus-based employee organization that seeks to promote women's professional advancement. She teaches courses in educational foundations, family and community engagement, and educational policy and advocacy. Her scholarship examines the issues of school choice, second language education and the experiences of women and mothers in academia. She serves as the principal investigator (PI) on the Project R.A.I.C.E.S. grant, a National Professional Development grant from the US Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition. She has three feisty and bighearted children who guide and shape her scholarship and teaching.