SW New Mexico News

Leanna Lucero, an associate professor at the College of Health, Education and Social Transformation, specializes in teacher education and queer theory in education. She currently serves as the interim director of the School of Teacher Preparation, Administration and Leadership and was previously the clinical director of the Elementary Teacher Education Program.

Lucero holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), along with a master's degree in educational leadership and foundations, and a Ph.D. from UTEP's Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture. Her academic focus included mathematics, science, technology education, and queer issues in education. Her dissertation explored how marginalized LGBTQ+ youth use social media to create safe-identity spaces.

Throughout her career, Lucero has worked in various educational roles within the Paso del Norte border region. These roles have included teaching in K-12 school systems, serving as a curriculum instructional facilitator and school administrator for K-12 schools, working as a university instructor and teacher education researcher, and engaging with pre-service and in-service teachers.

Under Lucero’s leadership earlier this year, the NMSU Elementary Teacher Education Program received recognition as the 2024 Billy G. Dixon Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators. This award honors programs that demonstrate collaboration between local education agencies and higher education institutions. Faculty members from the program joined Lucero at the annual Association of Teacher Education Conference in Anaheim, California to accept this accolade.

The Elementary Teacher Education Program offers teaching candidates over 900 hours of field-based experiences with elementary children and families.

“The collaborative development of our program helps us to achieve our program goals, align with state and national standards, and prepare socially just educators to work successfully in grades K-8 with children and families from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds,” Lucero stated. “I am honored to have served as the director of elementary education and to work with amazing faculty, staff and students who share a vision of serving children and families in the borderland. I look forward to continuing to support all our programs, students, faculty and staff in the School of Teacher Preparation, Administration and Leadership in my new role as the interim director of TPAL.”