Amanda Morales

Amanda R. Morales is an associate professor of education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has worked in teacher preparation for over 20 years. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses on multicultural education, intercultural communication, curriculum & pedagogy, and decolonizing theories in education. As a native of the Midwest, she was born and raised on the Great Plains, in rural northwest Kansas. As a child, Morales was a member of the only Latino (Mexican American) family in her hometown, and her father was a migrant worker for much of her childhood. As a first-generation college student, Morales completed an associates of arts, and bachelor of arts degree in Kansas before moving to Texas where she completed her master's of science degree at Texas Christian University and worked as an informal science STEAM integration educator at an alternative magnet school, and as the Assistant Director of Community Education programs at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for 6 years. In 2004, she returned to Kansas to work at the Center for Intercultural & Multilingual Advocacy at Kansas State University, where she ultimately completed a Ph.D. in 2011.

Since arriving at UNL in 2016, her research has focused on issues of equity and access for minoritized students from preschool to graduate school. More specifically, her current work focuses on teacher diversification pathways, school & university partnerships, teacher preparation for working with (im)migrant, multilingual, and minoritized students, Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and critical mentoring for teachers of Color. Morales has won national recognitions and research awards from the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, the American Education Research Association, and the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Association. She is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed publications and has written, led, and collaborated on numerous successful national and regional grant projects (totaling over $8.5 million dollars). Morales teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses on multicultural education, intercultural communication, and critical & anti-colonial theories in education.

Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Kansas State University, 2011 

M.S. in C&I Education Foundations, Texas Christian University, 2005 

B.A. in Art History, Kansas State University, 1998 

A.A. in Graphic Design, Barton County Community College, 1996