Dr. Ye He, professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education (TEHE), has been named the recipient of the Helena Gabriel Houston Distinguished Professor for Elementary Education.
The professorship, established in 2007, is a pivotal component of the UNC Greensboro School of Education’s vision to provide transformative educational experiences, advance research and innovation, and bridge research and practice.
Dr. He’s research focuses on the promotion of strength-based, community-engaged, and diverse language and culture-centered teaching and learning practices. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, five books, and many book chapters in collaboration with other scholars, practitioners, and community partners.
Over the past 15 years, Dr. He has established and expanded partnerships to internationalize teacher education. In cooperation with both U.S. and international institutions of higher education, she has led and supported educator exchanges with funding from the Fulbright programs and engaged in international collaborative research to support educators’ intercultural development.
She has served as a PI or co-PI on three five-year projects funded by the National Professional Development program from the U.S. Department of Education, allowing her to work with others support educator professional training and enhance educator preparedness for multilingual learners and their families. These projects led to the establishment of the initial licensure program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at UNCG.
In collaboration with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Dr. He leads the effort to examine strategies and innovations supporting multilingual learners. Her engagement with communities led to her partnership with the National Center for Families Learning to support the establishment of the North Carolina Statewide Family Engagement Center through statewide asset mapping.
Her research has been published in the Educational Research Review, The Teacher Educator, TESOL Journal, and Teaching and Teacher Education, among others.
The Helena Gabriel Houston Professorship was established by the C.D. Spangler Foundation, Inc., and honors Helena Gabriel Houston who was born in Catawba County in 1905. Houston graduated from the North Carolina College for Women, now UNCG, with the Class of 1927. She later taught for four decades at the Dilworth Elementary School in the Charlotte area.
