Michelle Benegas Delivered Keynote Address at New York State TESOL Annual Conference

Michelle Benegas, associate professor of TESOL in the School of Education and Leadership, delivered the keynote address, "Many Hands, One Purpose," at the New York State TESOL annual conference on Saturday, November 7. The virtual address examined the school systems that make multilingual learner success possible, drawing on the five elements of SIMS (Systemic Infrastructure for Multilingual Success), the framework Benegas developed. She also spoke to the long history of support between educators in New York and Minnesota, beginning in 1946, when New York's teachers' federation sent a $1,500 check to support striking teachers in Saint Paul. That same spirit carried through the recent period of heightened immigration enforcement, as teachers in both states shared strategies to keep their communities safe, and New York educators drew on materials created by Hamline's own ATLAS. Benegas directs the K–12 branch of Hamline's MA TESOL program, including ESL licensure, and her scholarship centers on school infrastructure to support language learning.