Barbara Bird, Rocky Mountains-Far West Representative (CO, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY, AK, HI, OR, WA)

2021-2023

Department of World Languages
College of Southern Nevada
Tel:
E-mail: Barbara.Bird@csn.edu

Biography:

Barbara Bird is Lead faculty and for the Italian language program and Professor (Community College tenure track) at the College of Southern Nevada, a large community college with several campuses in the Las Vegas metro area. She also teaches a class on US and college pragmatics and policies for International students, and a cross-listed Italian culture course. She serves on several department and school-wide committees relating to diversity, assessment, curriculum, and online teaching. She also collaborates with Casa Italiana di Las Vegas and the state foreign language association, PLAN, which is affiliated with regional (SWCOLT) and national (ACTFL) organizations.

Dr. Bird earned a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition with a minor in Italian, and Certificate of European Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed an MA in Italian literature at UW-Madison, and bachelors degrees in Italian and History at Brigham Young University. Her research focuses on Italian literature acquisition, literacy practices, motivation, and classroom dynamics. Other areas of academic research include heritage identity and critical pedagogy. In her teaching practice, Dr. Bird is currently exploring project-based language learning and online course development.