Rebecca Blum Martinez is Professor of Bilingual Education in the Department Language Literacy and Sociocultural Studies at the University of New Mexico, where she specializes in bilingualism, second language learning and language maintenance and revitalization in language minority communities—particularly Spanish-speaking and American Indian populations. Her research and scholarly interests have long centered on the study of language development in bilinguals and second language development across varied learning contexts.
Dr. Blum Martinez is the director of Latin American Program in Education. This office serves as a liaison between the UNM College of Education and Latin American educational institutions. This work has included hosting groups of Mexican teachers, collaboration with Mexican researchers and offering professional development for teachers in conjunction with state Secretarías de Educación.
She participated as an expert witness for the Yazzie Martinez v State of New Mexico by conducting a study on Indigenous English Learners. Additionally, she and her collaborators have completed a manuscript documenting the history of bilingual education in New Mexico. Dr. Blum Martínez is co-PI on the English Language Learner Pipeline grant, funded by the New Mexico Higher Education Department.
Her recent publications include a co-authored chapter entitled, “Preparing Teachers of Bilingual Students, in the book, Education, Immigrant Students, Refugee Students, and English Learners, In retrospect, revitalizing the Cochiti language – a proposal for Community re-engagement in collective spirit and mutual respect, and with co-author, Trisha Moquino, Keres Children’s Learning Center: The search for a linguistically and culturally appropriate education.