2023 Incoming Grad Series: Mallory Woods

The 2023 Incoming Grad Series continues, featuring backstories and fun facts about 8 students who are part of the entering class at UCSB.

Mallory Woods is entering the PhD program in Education. Coming to UCSB from Fairview, PA, Mallory earned her Bachelor's degree from Kent State University in Translation Studies. Read on to learn more about her background, why she chose UCSB, and some surprising fun facts.

	THE STORY I am from Fairview, Pennsylvania. I attended Kent State University in Ohio for my undergraduate education, where I majored in Translation Studies (Spanish-English). At UCSB, I am entering the combined MA-PhD program in Education with a focus on Culture, Language, and Human Development. Since my first Spanish class in middle school, my course scheduling priorities have revolved around foreign language education. I studied French in high school and Italian in college, and I loved everything from the grammar to the vocabulary to the cultural lessons about art and cuisines. After I graduated high school, I left Pennsylvania and lived with a Spanish host family for a month, where the language and cultural immersion pushed me outside my comfort zone and cemented my desire to travel. At Kent State, I majored in Translation Studies, studied abroad, and interned virtually with an Ecuadorian non-profit, the Tandana Foundation. My interests shifted from a primary focus on linguistics to a curiosity about the education systems and teaching practices which enable cross-cultural communication. Upon graduating, I moved to central Ecuador as an English Teaching Assistant with the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. I taught English to undergraduates at the Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo in Riobamba, a highland city surrounded by massive volcanoes. Riobamba is home to a large population of Kichwa Indigenous Ecuadorians, and I was fortunate to audit Kichwa language classes and partake in numerous community events in Kichwa-speaking communities. I also volunteered at two schools in rural Indigenous communities with students ages 4-15 alongside wonderful coworkers and friends. Being immersed in such a bilingual, multicultural environment and learning about the Ecuadorian education system up close further solidified my desire to pursue graduate studies in Education focused on language and culture. The benefits of bilingualism and culturally relevant pedagogy are undeniable, and I hope to contribute to research which supports effective teaching practices for diverse learners, especially heritage language speakers.
	WHY UCSB I was drawn to the Gevirtz School's Education program since it will allow me to examine the intersections of Education and Linguistics. My advisor Dr. Kyratzis' research interests and expertise are well aligned with my goals, and at the virtual orientation, the GGSE faculty seemed extremely committed to student success. Additionally, the current students I met with were very friendly and spoke highly of the program's coursework and research opportunities. During my graduate school search, I prioritized finding a program committed to addressing contemporary challenges in US classrooms, and the GGSE's stated goals show their commitment to actively addressing issues of equity in pre-college public education. UCSB's stunning location was also a plus. I hope to learn to surf and am happy to leave my snow gear behind in PA!
	RESEARCH INTERESTS As an undergraduate, my main research focus was Translation Studies. I worked with my faculty mentor comparing and contrasting machine and human translation outputs. Additionally, I worked for the KSU Sociology Survey Research Lab and volunteered in the Culture, Parenting, and Child Development Lab. In Ecuador, I completed an independent project surveying teachers' perspectives on bilingual education in rural, primarily Kichwa-speaking communities. My experiences with Fulbright helped refine my research goals for graduate school, and at UCSB, I look forward to focusing on language socialization in young children and bilingual education. In particular, I am interested in learning how teachers can better support heritage language speakers and investigating how peer interactions contribute to literacy development.
	FUN FACTS I love to travel! Before college, I lived with a host family in Seville, Spain, and at Kent State, I studied abroad in rural Costa Rica at an agricultural university (Universidad EARTH), took an international law class in Prague, Czech Republic, and traveled to Israel and Palestine with KSU Hillel. I studied translation in Valencia, Spain, for a semester (before getting sent home early due to the pandemic) and spent my entire senior year abroad in Florence, Italy, where I visited as many gelaterias as possible and backpacked on a budget on the weekends. While living in Ecuador, I was fortunate to travel to lots of cities in the Andean highlands, attend a surf camp on the country's Pacific coast, visit the edge of the Amazon, and enjoy the incredible Galápagos Islands. In my free time, I enjoy going to the beach, running, cooking, and doing hot yoga. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to attend UCSB and look forward to meeting everyone!

Welcome, Mallory!

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