Paoze Thao

Paoze Thao is a Pioneer Faculty and Professor of Linguistics and Education for the Liberal Studies Department, College of Professional Studies at California State University Monterey Bay since 1995. His previous professional experiences were in refugee resettlement, legalization program, and professional development for teachers.

Educationally, he has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Loyola University of Chicago; an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Northeastern Illinois University with additional graduate work in Therapeutical Communications from Governors State University, Forest Park, Illinois; and a B.Ed. from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Thao holds a Transitional Bilingual Teaching Certification from LaSalle County; a Teaching Certification in Teaching English as a Second Language (K-12) and French as a Second Language (6-12) from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, State of Wisconsin.

Professionally, He was a Training and Research Specialist for the Multifunctional Resource Center for Bilingual Education, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, College of Education, University of Wisconsin – Madison from 1993-1995; Director of Outreach for the Chicago District Office, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice from 1987-1995; and a supervisor for the Refugee Services of Travelers and Immigrants Aid, Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Thao usually teaches undergraduate courses in LS 300: Major ProSeminar, LING 392: Nature of Language and Language Acquisition (Linguistics), LS 362: Equity Issues and Diverse Perspectives: Immigrant Populations, LS 400 Senior Capstone, and occasionally WLC 195 Beginning Mong/Hmong I, WLC 295 Beginning Mong/Hmong II, and WLC 395: Foundations of Mong/Hmong Languages, and graduate course ED 622 Ethnographic Research for Multicultural Teaching. Other areas of his teaching include comparative international education, history of education, policy studies, second language acquisition, teaching English and French as a second language, and bilingual and multicultural education.

Dr. Thao is the author of five books [Kevcai Siv Lug Moob (Foundations of Mong Language (1997), Kevcai Siv Lus Hmoob (Foundations of Hmong Language) (2003), Mong Education at the Crossroads (1999), Keebkwm Moob/Hmoob Ntseeg Yexus (Mong/Hmong Christian History (2000)]; editor of Voices From Changing America (2000); author of three book chapters [Mong Linguistic Awareness for Classroom Teachers in Asian American Education: Prospects and Challenge (Park & Chi, 1999), Cultural Variation within Southeast Asian American Families in Comprehensive Handbook of Multicultural School Psychology (Frisby & Reynolds, 2005), and Cultural Transition and Adjustment: Experiences of the Mong in the United States in Emerging Voices: The Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans (Ling, 2008)]; and author and co-author of numerous articles among others.

In addition, Dr. Thao has conducted professional development in the area of Southeast Asian history and culture, English as a Second Language, Parental and Community Involvement, Second Language Acquisition and Cultural Implications in Student Behavior, among others. Over 300 workshops have been conducted in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Oregon, and California from 1993 to present. Dr. Thao speaks, reads, and writes in five other languages besides English: Mong-fluent, Hmong-fluent, Laotian-fluent, Thai-fluent, and French-fair.
Thao, CSUMB, Nov 15, 2010