Virginia M. Gonzalez University of Cincinnati, USA

Virginia Gonzalez has an interdisciplinary professional and academic background. One of Gonzalez’s major areas of expertise is the development of multidisciplinary models explaining sociocultural and linguistic factors influencing alternative assessment, learning and developmental processes, and instructional programs in bilingual/English-as-a-second-language (ESL), low-socioeconomic status, Hispanic children. Gonzalez has conducted multiple research studies that have been published in the form of books and journal articles, have been disseminated at national and international conferences, and have been applied to the assessment and instruction of diverse learners in the public school setting and of international ESL students in higher education. These studies have generated alternative models and research methodologies, with important educational applications for the assessment and instruction of ethnic minorities. In light of this scholarly work, Gonzalez has been recognized as an outstanding and prolific scholar by major professional organizations in the interdisciplinary fields of second-language learning, bilingual education, and cognitive and language development. She earned a BA in psychology from the Catholic University of Lima-Perú; an MA in bilingual special education, and a PhD in educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin.