The Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity (MILE)

February 26, 2025 • Maryland Language Science Center at the University of Maryland
2130 HJ Patterson Hall, College Park, MD 20742

Schedule

• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Appetizers & Welcome
  Remarks by MILE directors Dr. Simone Gibson and Dr. D.J. Bolger
• 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM: Seed Grant Presentation
  Sequential Organization in Literacy Skills: Does Perceiving Visual-Orthographic Patterns Enhance Second Language Word Writing?
  Min Wang, Ph.D., José Ortiz, Ph.D., & Yi Dai
• 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM: Lunch & Student Posters
• 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM: Seed Grant Presentation
  Change the Game: Gaming as a Gateway to Literacy for Black Students
  Bryant O. Best, Ph.D. & Tarrin Morgan, M.A.S.
• 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Keynote Presentation
  Promoting Literacy through Language with Dr. Rebecca Silverman

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Silverman

Rebecca D. Silverman is the Judy Koch Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE). She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher. Dr. Silverman’s research focuses on language and literacy development in early childhood and elementary school. Her work has contributed to the research base on supporting vocabulary and other aspects of language that are critical to reading and writing and using multimedia and educational technology to facilitate literacy. She is involved in projects related to language-based instruction for multilingual learners, computer-adaptive assessment of language and literacy skills, and the effectiveness of a supplemental digital literacy program. Dr. Silverman leads the Language to Literacy Research Lab and is engaged in research-practice partnerships in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About the Presenters

Min Wang, Ph.D. • Professor, UMD College of Education

Dr. Min Wang received her Ph.D. in Applied Cognitive Science from the University of Toronto in 2000. Upon graduation she completed her post-doctoral training at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, funded by a fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She became a member of the Faculty of Human Development at the University of Maryland in 2002. Dr. Wang’s research interests are in the area of language and reading development. Specifically, she is interested in how cross language and writing system differences impact learning to speak and read in a first and second language. Her recent work has mainly focused on Chinese-English, Korean-English, Spanish-English bilingual children and adults, funded by NIH/NICHD, NSF, and Spencer Foundation. Dr. Wang is also interested in extending her work to other bilingual populations involving various languages and writing systems in the world. Dr. Wang has been serving on the editorial boards of Applied Psycholinguistics, Writing Systems Research, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and International Multilingual Research Journal. She has served as the Director of Graduate Studies in her department and the Executive Committee of the NSF-IGERT program at the University of Maryland in Biological and Computational Foundations of Language Diversity. She is a . For a complete CV please contact Dr. Wang at minwang@umd.edu, or see Dr. Wang’s personal webpage at www.education.umd.edu/HDQM/Wang-lab/ for more information about her recent work and publications.

José Ortiz, Ph.D. • Associate Director of Outreach, MILE

José A. Ortiz is an Assistant Professor in Hearing and Speech Sciences, at the University of Maryland, College Park. He serves as the director of the Language Diversity Lab and the Certificate in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology. He received a B.A. in Linguistics & Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2004, M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2007, and Ph.D in Special Education from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2022. As a speech-language pathologist, José has focused on providing services to Spanish-speaking communities in the US. His research is centered on issues relating to the identification of language-related disorders in bilingual children, including disproportionality in special education, equitable access to education services, non-biased assessment, and technology-enhanced assessment and intervention. CV: http://joseaortiz.com/cv • Personal Website: https://www.joseaortiz.com

Yi Dai • Ph.D. Student, UMD Department for Human Development and Quantitative Methodology

As of 2025, Yi Dai is a second-year doctoral student in Human Development (HD) program at the University of Maryland, College Park, and serves as the HD graduate representative for 2024-2025. She earned an M.S. in Cognitive Science with a minor in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2023. Prior to that, she was a lecturer teaching Chinese as a second language for four years at the Nanjing Medical University in China. Her research interests primarily focus on second language acquisition, cross-language transfer, and language production development.

Bryant O. Best, Ph.D. • Assistant Professor, Urban Educational Leadership, Advanced Studies, Leadership & Policy at Morgan State University

Bryant O. Best, son of James W. Best and Annie Beatrice Newsome, was on born October 31st ,1989. Raised in Wilson, NC, Bryant’s mother instilled in him a passion for reading and knowledge that molded him into the man he is today. His career began as an intern for the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Center for Policy Research and Strategy (CPRS). There, he analyzed and reported on national and institutional level data in response to pressing issues in higher education, produced briefings for college and university leaders on the matter ofeducational equity, and established a research partnership between the CPRS and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that resulted in a publication on the academic and social experiences of Black male Division I athletes. Similarly, in his role at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Bryant worked with six to eight state education agencies that were committed to the Innovation Lab Network (ILN) and its principles of educational equity, personalized learning, socioemotional learning, and competency-based education.

Research Interests: One area of Bryant’s research agenda highlights the policies and practices that contribute to the school discipline disproportionality – what some scholars refer to as the “school-to prison pipeline” – with a particular focus on how Black communities utilize their own individual, institutional, and relational assets to disrupt and dismantle the pipeline. A second area of his research agenda considers how video game culture can be used to reimagine Black students’ connections to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) academic content and career preparation. A third, emerging area of research revolves around his role as an Affiliate Faculty member of the School of Social Work’s Center on Urban Violence and Crime Reduction at Morgan State. In this third area, Bryant will explore how colleges and universities can prevent gun violence on their respective campuses as well as other social problems related to violent crime in urban communities.

Tarrin Morgan, M.A., M.A.S. • Professor, Morgan State University

Tarrin Morgan is a seasoned educator, mental health advocate, and videographer.  He currently works at Morgan State University as the Director of Marketing & Digital Engagement for the Office of Residence Life & Housing in addition to being the Founding Esports Director & Head Coach and Esports Professor. In October 2020, he led Morgan State University into the esports space when he was tasked with virtually engaging students since COVID prevented them from being on campus.  Fast forward to today where Morgan State University is a trailblazer for HBCU esports with over 260 members, 13 championships, and they secured around $500,000 in donations, scholarships, and winnings despite it being an unfunded/unsponsored program.  

Tarrin Morgan is a seasoned educator, mental health advocate, and videographer.  He currently works at Morgan State University as the Director of Marketing & Digital Engagement for the Office of Residence Life & Housing in addition to being the Founding Esports Director & Head Coach and Esports Professor. In October 2020, he led Morgan State University into the esports space when he was tasked with virtually engaging students since COVID prevented them from being on campus.  Fast forward to today where Morgan State University is a trailblazer for HBCU esports with over 260 members, 13 championships, and they secured around $500,000 in donations, scholarships, and winnings despite it being an unfunded/unsponsored program.  

Tarrin is the Co-Chair of the new Baltimore chapter of the Esports Trade Association and was selected as a 2023-2024 Fellow for the Network of Academic & Scholastic Esports Federations (NASEF)

Tarrin holds a Masters degree in Higher Education Administration from Morgan State University, a Masters degree in Administrative Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a Bachelors degree in Communication from William Paterson University.  He also was initiated as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc by way of the Iota Rho chapter
in 2007.