Before joining Regis, Dr. Elisabeth Grassi was a K-12 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse teacher, mentor teacher, and teacher trainer in the United States and internationally. In 1998, Dr. Grassi was awarded Teacher of the Year for her work with immigrant/refugee students. In 2003, she joined the Regis faculty as a specialist in culturally and linguistically diverse education. She is an evaluation and assessment specialist and presently serves as the Director of Faculty Assessment at Regis University. Dr. Grassi is a trained Mindfulness Teacher and is presently pursuing bilingual/bicultural International Mindfulness Teacher Training. Dr. Grassi's scholarship focuses on the impact of community-based learning on pre-service teachers, and equity issues around the education of immigrant/refugee students. She regularly publishes on the “Study Abroad in the Neighborhood” program in which college students are placed with Hispanic immigrant families in the university neighborhood to learn about the language, the culture, and the educational challenges immigrant families face in the U.S. She is presently investigating the impacts of bilingual/bicultural mindfulness practices on student participation in mindfulness communities. Her textbook, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Students: Strategies for Teaching and Assessment Sage Publications, addresses the instruction of students who are both bilingual and have special needs.
