Please join us in extending a very warm welcome to Dr. Rosa M. Norton as a Future of Higher Education (FHE) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Berkeley Language Center!
Her research focus, teaching experience, and leadership skills will make a substantial contribution to the entire BLC community and to language and culture learning / teaching on the Berkeley campus. Rosa earned her PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from UC Berkeley and her MA in Near Eastern Studies from NYU. Her research engages a postcolonial framework to (re)examine the legacy of al-Andalus in contemporary Morocco. In addition to having previously worked as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Bontang, Indonesia, she taught a broad range of courses at UC Berkeley in social sciences and humanities, including an introduction to social anthropology and digital humanities courses. Rosa was also the recipient of an Outstanding Graduate Student instructor award in 2014-2015. Her study of Modern Standard Arabic included receiving a multi-year Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow and Critical Language Scholarship. Additionally, Rosa has gained significant leadership experience, which includes organizing events and conferences; playing a leading role in a department student group dedicated to equity and transparency; and working as a professional freelance editor. Throughout her research, teaching, and service, Rosa has been a dedicated advocate for greater inclusivity and equity in higher education.
The Future of Higher Education (FHE) Fellowship program aims to provide recently graduated doctoral candidates with pathways to explore higher education administration while also working to ensure the diversification of this leadership. During her time with the BLC, Rosa will be providing leadership to support key areas of our mission. Bringing to bear her own language learning experiences and her knowledge of campus cultures, Rosa will focus on developing undergraduate outreach and programming to further our mission of advocating for language and culture instruction across campus. Rosa will also be working on several communications projects, such as the creation of a BLC newsletter, to ensure awareness of and access to opportunities to engage with applied language studies research and world languages pedagogy.
Please stop by Rosa’s office, B-33C Dwinelle, or send her an email at rosa.norton@berkeley.edu to introduce yourself, share your ideas, and extend a warm welcome!