Maria Luisa Zamudio-Mainou
Maria Luisa Zamudio-Mainou has accepted the leadership role as the next executive director for Illinois State University’s National Center for Urban Education, effective July 1, 2018.
Zamudio-Mainou currently serves as the principal investigator of the Transitioning Paraprofessionals into Teachers of English Learners Program for the School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education at Illinois State University.
For the last 16 years, Zamudio-Mainou has worked at Illinois State in various capacities, including teaching multicultural education, and coordinator in the Bilingual-Bicultural Program, where she was directly responsible for all grant management activities, recruitment of teachers interested in becoming certified in bilingual education and English as a Second Language, and providing support to school districts and their teachers from abroad.
She has more than 15 years of experience working with federal grants from the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, she developed and implemented a study abroad summer program with Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain and the College of Education. She has been the academic co-advisor for the Student Association of Bilingual Education (SABE) for the last 10 years.
“Maria’s extensive contributions as a grant writer, instructor, recruiter, collaborator, and champion for bilingual education have transformed the lives of countless teachers and their students across the Midwest,” said Perry Schoon, dean of the College of Education. “Her leadership will elevate the National Center for Urban Education to the next phase of its development as a resource and pipeline for the preparation of competent, passionate, and effective urban educators in the U.S.”
Zamudio-Mainou earned her undergraduate degree from Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Tamaulipas in Tampico, Mexico, in business administration; her master’s degree in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Illinois State, and her doctorate degree in higher education administration at Illinois State in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations. Her area of research expertise includes culturally responsive practices for Latino students and families.
Zamudio-Mainou is directly involved with the Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education, where she has served on their board since spring of 2007 and is the current co-chair for the 26th annual Professional and Student Development Conference, which will be hosted by Illinois State University in April 2018. She has also served on the Latin@ Alumni Network board at Illinois State since 2014.
