UTSA dean testifies before House education subcommittee

(Sept. 23, 2003)--Blandina Cardenas, dean of the UTSA College of Education and Human Development, testified Sept. 9 before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education in support of legislation for financial aid to graduate students in bilingual and special education.

The aid would be part of the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program, a component of Title VII of the Higher Education Act.

Pictured is Blandina Cardenas testifying in Washington, D.C.

According to Cardenas, state and national data show a pressing need for teachers in math, science, bilingual, English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and dual-language education, and special education.

"It will not get better until there is a significant investment in producing the highly qualified education faculty to train teachers in these fields," said Cardenas. "I would advocate strongly for special efforts to support doctoral students who pursue study in special education for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. A small investment now will lay a foundation that can build capacity in every state in the nation."

Read Cardenas' full testimony to the House Subcommittee on Higher Education.

Cardenas has led numerous state and local organizations in education, voting rights, public service, leadership development and children's concerns.

In 1991, she was inducted into the Orden del Aguila Azteca, the highest honor given by the government of Mexico to non-citizens of that country. A native Texan, she received her bachelor of journalism degree from UT Austin and her doctorate in education administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Cardenas commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, a position in which she led the national Head Start program, among others. She served as a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

She was a U.S. representative to education and children's organizations in the People's Republic of China, the Inter-American Children's Institute of the Organization of American States, and UNESCO.

Cardenas won national attention early in her career as program-development director at Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, where she pioneered the implementation of bilingual infant stimulation programs, bilingual early childhood education for severely handicapped children, teacher-credentialing programs for teacher aides and youth-tutoring-youth and youth involvement in experiential learning.