Curriculum Vitae
Kara Roop Miheretu, Ph.D. Candidate
EDUCATION
2018—present Doctor of Philosophy
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Curriculum & Instruction Early Childhood Education
Dissertation Title: “It’s Bigger than Black and White:” A Performed Ethnography of New York City Mothers and Teachers Talking about the Racializing of Children and Childhoods
2007—2010 Master of Arts
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York, New York
Major: International Educational Development
Concentration: African Education
1997-2001 Bachelor of Arts
Associates of Arts
Lasell College
Newton, Massachusetts
Major: Human Psychosocial Development of the Young Child
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2018 - Present Instructor (Graduate Teaching Assistant), Department of Curriculum & Instruction,
College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
Undergraduate Courses
- CI 295 – Introductory Field Experience for Early Childhood Education
- This course provides students with guided experience as participant observers of young children in a group setting.
- ECE 451 – Introduction to Early Childhood Education
- As one of the required methods courses in the PreK-Grade 4 teacher certification program, this class presents a foundational base of the early childhood education curriculum models.
Curriculum & Instruction
- CI 511 Educational Ethnography: History, Theory, and Methods (Co-Taught with Dr. Joseph M. Valente)
- A seminar course that shows how ethnographic methods in educational research inform classroom practice and educational policy when school communities are key sites for students to become members of a culture
- CI 560 -Theories of Childhood (Co-Taught with Dr. Gail L. Boldt)
- The study of childhood from cultural, historical, psychological, and philosophical perspectives.
- CIED 525 - Bakhtin and Education (Co-Taught with Dr. Joseph M. Valente)
- This doctoral seminar introduced students to the writings of key members of the “Bakhtin Circle,” which included Mikhail Bakhtin, Valentin Voloshinov, and Pavel Medvedev.
- Authored & published a white paper titled, The Pennsylvania State University Early Childhood Centers Reimaged After COVID-19
Research Assistant Children’s Media and Conflict Zone Lab
- Collaborated with a team to transcribe ethnographic interviews, and produced a literature review of pertinent literature about Saharawi refugees’ education globally
2008-2018 Head Teacher Rita Gold Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
- Supervised a team of Infant/Toddler teachers to design and implement a play-based/child-led curriculum and to further improve their teaching and reflexivity
- Directed a team of teachers to observe, develop, and evaluated qualitative data on students’ daily activities and interactions to create a summary of their development to show child’s development over time that was used to assess progress
2016 – 2017 Instructor Department of Curriculum & Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York.
- C&T 5118 Infant and Toddler Development and Practice Field Experience
- C&T 5308 Advance Practicum-infancy and early childhood
- Created and developed a developmentally, culturally appropriate toddler/preschool curriculum to progress to a play-based, emergent curriculum
- Conducted professional development training for education managers and teachers in developmentally appropriate practices, classroom management, and active observations
- Mentored ECD manager and staff in the progressive, play-based, emergent curriculum to develop the capacity to support the children’s needs
- Created assessments of the education status within 6 refugee camps to design in-service training for refugee teachers
- Conducted training on teaching pedagogy, student-centered teaching methodology, continuous assessment, and using local resources within the 6 refugee camps to address the current limitations of the refugee teacher staff
- Designed a multicultural curriculum for international children 2-5 years old by adapting themes to meet the needs of new students using an interactive, child-centered approach
- Developed and Implemented team building workshops/training sessions to promote professionalism and increase solidarity
SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES
Publications
Miheretu, K. R., & Henward, A. S. (2020). I Am Roha’s Emaye: A critical autoethnography of mothering in liminal spaces. Genealogy, 4(2), 35.
Miheretu, K.R. (in press). Review of the book Radical Grace: Essays and conversations on teaching by C. Price & M. Savić. Feminist Pedagogy.
Miheretu, K.R., Umezawa, K., Lyu, S.R. (forthcoming). “Can ethnographers really speak for others?” Understanding our positionalities in ethnographic research.” Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy.
Miheretu, K.R. (forthcoming). Learning from experiences of racialized children to inform early childhood education teaching. Journal of Contemporary Early Childhood Education.
INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL CONFERENCES,
WORKSHOPS, SYMPOSIA, PRESENTATIONS
Conferences
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2022). “Can ethnographers really speak for others?” Understanding our positionalities in ethnographic research. Co-presenters Kiyomi Umezawa (Masamune), Sung Ryung Lyu. Curriculum and Pedagogy Group. State College, Pennsylvania.
Miheretu, K.R. (November 2021). Engaging in conversations with a band of mothers: A labor of reflexivity within a performed ethnography. American Anthropology Association, Baltimore, Maryland.
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2019). I am Roha’s Emaye: A critical personal narrative of mothering at the intersections of “Black + White.” Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2019). Crossing borders in early childhood education: Can we move beyond borders in ECE settings by disrupting the status quo? Co-presenters Kiyomi Masamune, Sung Ryung Lyu. Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, McAllen, Texas.
Miheretu, K.R. (November 2013). Becoming inclusive: Teachers negotiating discourses of inclusion and early Childhood through a co-inquiry of life narratives. Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, Nairobi, Kenya.
Miheretu, K.R. (March 2013). Prioritizing early childhood education in refugee camps. Council of the International Exchange of Scholars, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Symposia
Video Ethnography Symposia presentation: Mothering in Happy Valley: Using video ethnography to converse about mothering in central Pennsylvania (December 2019).
Workshops
Organized Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic as Graduate Student Parents: A biweekly support group that met virtually to discuss issues relevant to parenting and graduate student life (2020-Present).
SERVICE
The Pennsylvania State University
University-wide
President, Disability Studies Student Group (2019—Present)
Organized Miracles and Wonders from Deaf Worlds: An Ethnographic Film Showing and Discussion Panel October 30, 2019
The College of Education
College of Education Graduate Student Council Curriculum & Instruction Representative, (2019—2020)
Orientation Representative for Curriculum & Instruction: presented: Graduate Work-Life Balance Panel and Small Group Discussions (2019-2021)
Community
Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Extended Day Volunteer/Summer Camp Sports Director (2022- Present)
Executive Secretary of Parental Advisory Council & Operation Committee (2022-2023)
MEMBERSHIPS
American Anthropological Association (Council of Education) (2018-Present)
Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (2013-Present)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (2007-Present)
CERTIFICATIONS
TESOL/TESL certified, New York, NY, August 2007
Massachusetts Office for Children Certified Teachers Birth-Age Five, May 1999