Patrick Camangian,
assistant professor of teacher education. Photo by Pocho1
Patrick Camangian,
assistant professor of teacher education, has received the University of San
Francisco’s Distinguished Teaching Award for his ongoing efforts to recruit and
train a more diverse teacher workforce.
Camangian and Noah Borrero, assistant professor of teacher education, were driving forces in creating the School of Education’s successful master’s degree
in urban education and social justice.
The emphasis of the
program is to train new public school teachers to overcome cultural bias and
engage disadvantaged students in urban schools. “Rather than focus exclusively
on instructional methods, our program prepares teachers to be much more
responsive to the needs of urban students,” said Camangian, who began
teaching at USF in 2008 and is also a high school teacher in Oakland. “For example,
students develop collaborative, community-based, service-learning projects in
which they apply socially just educational theory within the realities of urban
schools and communities.”
Initiated in 2009, the
program has already shown results with student-teachers of color comprising 65
percent of the most recent cohort. “Comparatively, the public teaching force is
upwards of 85 percent white,” said Camangian. “We actively recruit and enroll
culturally diverse candidates, which leads to more honest, authentic
conversations dealing with issues of social justice and injustice in our
university classrooms.”
Camangian was
selected by a committee of USF faculty and staff that examined applicants’
relationships with students, teaching evaluations, commitment to the
university’s mission, and involvement in the local community. “Patrick truly
exemplifies what it means to be a critical educator for social justice that is
committed to his students and to a larger political project," said Emma
Fuentes, assistant professor of international and multicultural education and
chair of the selection committee.
