Education
Ph.D. Boston College, Curriculum and Instruction: Language. Literacy and Culture

M.Ed. Boston College, Curriculum and Instruction
B.S. Radford University, Social Studies and Secondary Education

Courses
Undergraduate:
RE 474: Content Area Reading I

Graduate:
RE 509: Reading, Writing, and Study Skills in the Content Area
RE 722: Children's and Adolescent Literature

Biography
Afra Ahmed Hersi is an Assistant Professor of Reading Education in the Teacher Education Department at Loyola College in Maryland. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Reading Program and in Teacher Education. Her area of expertise and research focuses on the impact of immigration on social identity, literacy and language development of adolescent English language learners, and social context education, critical multicultural education and parent and community engagement in urban schools.

Selected Publications
Hersi, A. & Shirley, D. (2008). From Radical Visions to Messy Realities: Complexities of Urban Education and the Preparation of Teacher Educators. In F. Peterman. Partnering to Prepare Urban Teachers: A Call to Activism. Washington DC: AACTE.

Hersi, A. (2005). Educational challenges and sociocultural experiences of Somali students in an urban high school. NABE: Journal of Review of Research and Practice, Vol. 3, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp 125-143.

Shirley, D., Hersi, A., MacDonald, E., Sanchez, M., Skidmore, C. & Tutwiler, P. (2006). Bringing the Community Back in: Change, Accommodation, and Contestation in a School and University Partnership. Equity & Excellence in Education, Amherst, Massachusetts, February, 2006, pp 27-36.

Professional Associations
American Education Research Association
American Association of Applied Linguists
National Reading Conference