Sandra Crespo
Dr. Sandra Crespo
CLS Affiliation: CLS Core Faculty
Position Title: Professor, and Associate Chair of Graduate Education
College and Department: College of Education and Department of Teacher Education
Areas of Expertise: curriculum and instruction; literacy education; mathematics education; teacher education, learning, and policy
How do you keep yourself centered?
My family keeps me centered. Morning coffee with my mom (virtually) every morning gives me joy, she is always cheering me on and reminding me that "Si se puede!" Family travel is the best antidote to stress for me, it gives us lots of time together to reconnect and learn something new wherever we are visiting. I also have a group of Latina friends here in Lansing, not in academia, that keeps me grounded and helps me disconnect from work. We teach each other how to cook family recipes and go on trips together.
What advice/tips/consejos would you give students in terms of navigating school?
"It takes a village..." Succeeding is never a one person's project, it's a community project. So find/create your loving community wherever you are. Find a mentor. Find your village, the people, and the spaces within the institution that have a commitment to your well-being alongside your academic success. When you are in a position to do the same, pay it forward, and be a mentor or a loving community member to others. Within our college of education Rueda Latin@ is one of those communities that have been created by and for Latinx students.
When not teaching, doing research, and/or preparing coursework, what do you like to do for fun or relaxation?
Trying out new foods, playing tennis, going on long walks, traveling, visiting with friends and family.
What (or who) inspires you?
My students inspire me. They push me to learn more, to work harder and to do better. Seeing my students give it their all, lifting each other up, mentoring each other, and supporting each other to become the best versions of themselves, that's what inspires me.
What classes do you generally teach?
I regularly teach in the CITE doctoral program, the MATC online Master's program, and in the undergraduate teacher preparation program, all these are housed in the Department of Teacher Education. This spring semester I'm teaching a special topics course for doctoral students TE 991: Social Justice Teacher Education, that will focus on critical theories of race, class, gender and their utility in examining and addressing problems of practice in teaching and teacher education. I have taught undergraduate (e.g., TE 250) and Master's level courses (e.g., TE 823) with a similar focus on examining educational inequities and ways to address them. I also teach courses focused on using equity frameworks for teaching and learning mathematics and in STEM fields.
Anything else you would like to share with students and the CLS community?
Journal editor was not one of the items in my bucket list when I first started my journey in academia nor as a faculty here at MSU. After all, I am writing in a second language (my first language is Spanish). Yet I have found that I really enjoy supporting and mentoring scholars through the process of academic writing through the role of journal editor. I was the editor for the MTE journal (2014-2018) for four years and am currently the associate editor for the JRME journal (2019-2024), both are focused on research in mathematics education.
To learn more about Dr. Crespo, visit her professional website at https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/dr-sandra-crespo/home
Picture descriptions:
1) Roadtrip across the US to visit our Canadian side of the family (Michigan to Washington State and into British Columbia, Canada) that my family and I did last summer (2019) and here we had stopped to see the Bad Lands park in North Dakota - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands_National_Park.
2) With my Latina besties visiting Chicago.
3) A Rueda Latin@ potluck gathering
4) A campus protest march – my college of education colleagues and I are serious about working to make MSU a loving and caring community for all of us and our students. (https://www.wilx.com/content/news/March-On-Hannah-Tuesday-472920273.html)