PERSONAL

Those that know me well know my very selfish main reason for being a teacher educator.  I am preparing teachers to teach my five wonderful children.  The other reason is that I am training teachers to teach your children as if they were their own.  Those are very powerful motivators.

When I’m not teaching I can be found listening to or watching musical theater with my sweet wife (and whichever children we couldn’t say no to earlier that evening).  When not listening to musicals I am most likely reading or watching t.v. with the kids, and hopefully a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream.

My favorite recent experience was teaching 36 high school students involved in our Latino Educators of Tomorrow program.  If you are interested in finding out more about this program, please contact me directly.

FAVORITE QUOTES (at least for now!)

PROFESSIONAL LICENSING

Current Professional License                                                                                                         Year Expires

• National Board Certification: Young Adolescent-Social Studies                                                         2011

• Utah Administrator/Advisor Certificate                                                                                      2011
  

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

Institution                                             Position                                                              Year

Utah Valley University                        Assistant Professor                                             2002-present    (6th Year Tenure track)

Alpine School District                         Assistant Principal                                              2001-2002

Alpine School District                         Social Studies Specialist                                       1997-2001

Alpine School District                         Teacher (Junior High)                                          1990-2001

SCHOLARLY WORK   

Instructional Projects

Ramirez, A.D. (2002)   Cesar E. Chavez Model Curriculum: Middle School Lessons and Biography.  Approved       by the California State Board of Education on February 6, 2002.  Middle level biography and most middle school lessons were individually written and developed.  Published on-line through the California Department of Education

http://www.cde.ca.gov/cesarchavez/model/Teachers/Lessons_7-9.htm

PRESENTATIONS

National:

• 2003- The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Washington D.C.  Panel Discussion, “Teaching About Religion in Public Schools: Where Do We Go from Here?”
• 2001- National Council for the Social Studies, San Antonio, Texas .  Workshop “Putting it all together: Civics and reading comprehension.”  Part of the NCSS Teacher of the Year workshops.

Local

• 2007 - Utah Education Association Annual Conference
• 2007 - Utah 4^th Grade Social Studies Workshop- Utah State Office of Education
• 2007 - Standards and Practice Academy for Social Studies- Utah State Office of Education
• 2007 - UVSC Annual Scholarly and Creative Activities Showcase with Dr. Nancy Peterson and Talitha Hudgins
• 2006 - Utah 4^th Grade Social Studies Workshop- Utah State Office of Education
• 2005 - Utah 4^th Grade Social Studies Workshop-   Utah State Office of Education
• 2004 - Moral Dimensions of Education and Latino Students- BYU CITES Associates Leadership Team retreat. 
• 2003 - Literacy Across the Content Conference sponsored by the BYU Partnership, Orem, Utah .  Workshop “ Integrating Social Studies and Language Arts.” 
• 2003 - BYU Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling, Provo, Utah .  Workshop, “Teaching Students the Responsibilities that go with Their Rights.”  
• 1999 - NCSS Regional Social Studies Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah .  Workshop, “We the People, the Citizen and the Constitution: Authentic Assessment in Civics Education.”  

CONSULTING

2006- 2008  Elementary Social Studies Core Revision Advisory Committee, Utah State Office of Education

2003- Council for American’s First Freedom, Richmond, Virginia .  Educator panel to coordinate workshops and events on the First Amendment: Freedom of Religion. 

2000-2001- Cesar Chavez Model Curriculum- State of California .  Wrote the majority of middles school lessons and middle level Cesar E. Chavez biography to be used as resources throughout the state of California to honor Cesar E. Chavez. 

2000-2001- C-SPAN- American Writer’s Series- Created the materials for the follow up Internet discussions on:  Black Elk Speaks

1999-2002- Utah Teacher Academy .  Presented Civics and educational philosophy workshops to elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers throughout Utah .

SERVICE

2008-                     Director- UVU Latino Educators of Tomorrow 

2007-Present           UVU Hispanic Advisory Board

2002-Present           Advisory Board, Utah Three R’s Program

2002-2006               Selection Committee, Huntsman Teacher of the Year Award

2002-2006               Judge, Utah We the People, the Citizen and The Constitution Competition

2002-2006               County and State Delegate, Utah Republican Party

2000-2002               IHC Community Relations Board; North Utah County

2000-2001               President, Utah Council for the Social Studies

1995-2000               Board Member, Utah Council for the Social Studies

RECOGNITION

• 2003 - Faculty Excellence Award- UVSC School of Education
• 2001 - National Middle Level Teacher of the Year, National Council for the Social Studies
• 2001 - Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education
• 2000 - Honorable Mention, TIME Teacher of the Year
• 1998 - Utah Social Studies Teacher of the Year, presented by Utah Council for the Social Studies
• 1997 - Congressional Internship: Senator Orrin Hatch, Office of the Judiciary
• 1995 - PTA State Golden Apple Award 
• 1994 - James Madison Fellow
• 1993 - Project Merit Award, Utah Humanities Council