Meet the Researcher: Glenn Mitoma

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Glenn Mitoma in front of UConn's Human Rights Institute.
“I really do see my research as continuing to be responsive to what I see as the needs of the communities that I’m a part of,” says Glenn Mitoma, assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and director of the Human Rights Institute. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Glenn Mitoma has spent his career studying human rights and helping others understand how they can realize them in their communities.

Editor’s Note: The following piece featuring Glenn Mitoma was originally published in UConn Today.

Glenn Mitoma understands that questions of human rights require careful inquiry and extensive collaboration. His work aims to increase the realization of human rights through education and community programs.

Mitoma graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s degree in photography. After working for a stock photo company, Mitoma went back to school.

Mitoma was interested in an interdisciplinary academic program that engaged culture, which he found at Claremont Graduate University’s cultural studies program.

“That was a space I was very comfortable in and very interested in,” Mitoma says.

During graduate school, Mitoma’s focus shifted from art and art history and toward history and human rights. His dissertation focused on the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document first crafted in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Mitoma joined UConn in 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow, and is now an assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and a joint appointment in the Human Rights Institute.

Reinvestigating History

Mitoma was in graduate school when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. This event caused a significant shift in discussions about the United States and human rights.

“Part of the shift in perspective that took place in the wake of those attacks was to really interrogate the role of the United States in the global order,” Mitoma says.

Since the aftermath of World War II, the US had largely been recognized as a vocal champion of human rights. But after 9/11, scholars began questioning this characterization given the US’s imperialist foreign policies, and applied a cultural relativist framework which calls for not judging the actions of a person from a different culture by the norms and standards of one’s own.

In this atmosphere, Mitoma became interested in studying the contributions of intellectuals and diplomats from outside the US and Europe to the development of the human rights regime.

“Part of the shift in perspective that took place in the wake of those attacks was to really interrogate the role of the United States in the global order.”

— Assistant Professor Glenn Mitoma

When Mitoma entered the field, there were two scholastic camps on this topic. The first held that the idea of human rights that emerged in the 1930s and 40s was an assertion of Western power. They characterized any non-western intellectuals who participated in this development as internally westernized.

The second group claimed that human rights represents the concerns of marginalized and oppressed peoples. In this framework, human rights is a legitimate method of working toward a more just, equitable global society.

Mitoma revealed a much more complex portrait of this topic through his work on two diplomats and thinkers: Charles Malik, a Lebanese academic, diplomat, and politician; and Carlos Romulo, a Filipino diplomat and writer.

Both men attended American schools and worked with the US government throughout their careers. However, they also worked to adapt the discourse of human rights to apply to the concerns of their own countries.

“It’s not simply a matter that they had been westernized and were mouthpieces for a particular Western perspective,” Mitoma says. “But rather, they shaped, rearticulated, and pushed the discourse of human rights in a universalizing direction.”

Mitoma is currently working with undergraduate student Sage Phillips and a team from Greenhouse Studios on a project that sheds light on how UConn, as a land grant institution, is tied to the displacement of indigenous tribal communities in the western US.

The Morrill Land Grant Acts established universities like UConn using funds from the sale of federal lands taken from indigenous tribes through unequal treaties or violence.

Mitoma will investigate the specific pieces of land that funded UConn, which tribes were displaced from this sale, the revenue raised from the sale, and how those funds have been used within the University. This research will help address what UConn’s history means for its current responsibility to indigenous communities.

“This work ties together this important historical and archival work and helps connect the university to stakeholders which have been rendered invisible by colonialism,” Mitoma says. “It asks the university not only to be an academic home to people who student native and indigenous issues but actually, as an institution, take responsibility for their own culpability in the long history of colonization.”

Education and Human Rights

World Map Made of Multicolored Stickman Figures
“Human Rights Day is always an important opportunity to reflect on the principles and practices of human rights, but this year has made clear just how essential the commitment to human rights is for all of us,” says Mitoma. (Getty Images)

Mitoma is interested in the historical role education played in the development of the human rights regime and how it can continue to develop understanding of human rights for students today.

This work breaks away from traditional human rights scholarship, which tends to focus on the legal and political history of these ideas.

“I’m interested in a less spectacular, but essential, pedagogical function in human rights, and the way that they shape both education systems and structures and how students incorporate and learn these values and deploy them at different points in their own lives and careers,” Mitoma says.

This work increases understanding of how to bridge the gap between high-level policy and declarations that often have little to no impact on the ground, and real change for people’s lived experiences.

Mitoma is also interested in reversing the trend of education in the US that places almost exclusive emphasis on the common core and standardized testing and education as a means of increasing an individual’s potential earning capacity.

Refocusing education on human rights can help students recognize their individual human rights, as well as how to uplift a community and contribute to collective wellbeing, he says.

“On both sides, from a human rights perspective and from an education perspective, bridging that gap is an essential need within scholarship,” Mitoma says.

Mitoma is currently working on a project investigating the intersection between human rights and civics education in Connecticut high schools.

The goal of this work is to determine the impact of a human rights-centered civics education on students’ community engagement, teachers’ connections with organizations that promote democracy at the community level, and how the schools themselves engage in democratic practices.

Crossing Borders

Mitoma serves as the director of the Dodd Human Rights Impact. The programs that are part of the Dodd Human Rights Impact work with Connecticut communities to foster a culture of human rights in the state and beyond.

“We need everybody’s voice, we need everybody’s perspective if we’re going to create communities that work for everyone.”

— Glenn Mitoma

“We really see this as an extension of the University’s responsibilities not only around undergraduate and graduate education and research, but also to be of service to communities near and far,” Mitoma says.

The Dodd Human Rights Impact collaborates with on-campus groups and community partners such as the Hartford Public Library and Everyday Democracy, a community organization that focuses on racial equity.

The human rights challenges people face in Connecticut and across the globe require interdisciplinary thinking and collaborating with those who have different ideas, skills, and backgrounds. This approach also gives the programs greater reach and impact.

“Working across these lines is functionally better, but it’s also better as an emblem of democratic values,” Mitoma says. “We need everybody’s voice, we need everybody’s perspective if we’re going to create communities that work for everyone.”

Mitoma says the most rewarding part of his work is collaborating with others to address complex, critical questions that have the capacity to improve the realization of human rights at all levels.

“Participating in scholarly conversations can be a challenge when you’re crossing borders all the time in your work,” Mitoma says. “I’ve addressed that by having good partners and collaborators and finding others who know more than I do. Working together, we’re better than the sum of our parts.”

Mitoma’s research career has largely been shaped by the state of the world around him and where he saw his research making the biggest impact for the moment, a thread he sees continuing.

“I really do see my research as continuing to be responsive to what I see as the needs of the communities that I’m a part of,” Mitoma says.

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First-Year Educator on Lessons Learned While Teaching Amid COVID

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D'Lanie Pelletier, who spent her first year after graduating teaching during COVID.
“I learned that being patient with students and showing them that you understand can go a long way,” says Pelletier. “The students have been more than patient with us teachers trying to figure out the new technology, so we owe it to them to be patient as well.”

Editor’s Note: The following essay, penned by Neag School alumna and first-year teacher D’Lanie Pelletier ’20 (ED), ’21 MA, was originally published in the Spring 2021 newsletter of the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers. Here, Pelletier reflects on her experience as a first-year educator, teaching during COVID. 

Throughout my teacher preparation program at UConn’s Neag School of Education, I always knew that my first year of teaching would be challenging. However, I never could have imagined the challenges that the year 2020-2021 has brought. This year has brought students in masks with shields over their desks, hybrid learning, block schedules, fully online students, and the struggle to keep students engaged despite the uncertainty of their outside world. All of the teaching and classroom management strategies that I learned in my teacher preparation program now seemed distant as all teachers learned how to adapt and teach in this new learning model.

Although this year was far from what I expected, I have learned and grown a lot since the first day. I went into the first week nervous and unsure of how the lessons were going to unfold. Through many trials and errors, I have found new ways to connect with and engage my students, some of whom I have never even met in person. Applications such as Nearpod, Edpuzzle, Kahoot!, and Quizlet Live have become an integral part of my lessons. I have found that these apps keep the students, whether at home or in person, engaged and participating in the classwork.

“Although this year was far from what I expected, I have learned and grown a lot since the first day.”  

Another quality that I have learned in my first year is patience and compassion. Just as many adults are tired and struggling this year, our students are feeling this same way. They are behind screens all day and are unable to hang out with their friends as they could years before. Sometimes as teachers, we forget that our students can feel the same burnout and exhaustion that we feel. I learned that being patient with students and showing them that you understand can go a long way. The students have been more than patient with us teachers trying to figure out the new technology, so we owe it to them to be patient as well.

I spoke about being patient with students, but something that was much harder for me to learn this year was how to be patient with myself. As a first-year teacher, I often feel as if I have to prove myself. I want to prove to my students, colleagues, and the administration that I am capable of this job. However, this led to a massive amount of overthinking and stress that wasn’t good for me or my students’ learning. I had to see that it is OK to make mistakes. As a first-year, it is expected. These mistakes are what help you learn. The students don’t expect you to be perfect, just as you don’t expect them to be. I also had to learn that it is not a weakness to ask for help. Asking for input on a lesson or activity will simply just make it better. The more perspectives that you have, the better the lessons will be.

“Pandemic or not, our students need to learn, and it’s our responsibility to be there for them through it all.”

Although I wish that teaching could go back to “normal,” I am grateful for all of the lessons that I have learned this year. It has allowed me to reflect as an educator as to why I chose to be a teacher, and how I will best serve my students moving forward. Pandemic or not, our students need to learn, and it’s our responsibility to be there for them through it all.

D’Lanie Pelletier ’20 (ED), ’21 MA graduated in world languages from Neag School of Education’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Teacher Education Program. She did her student teaching during her master’s year at her alma mater, E.O. Smith High School in Mansfield, Connecticut, and will be teaching French there in the fall.

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Studying College, Career Readiness for Students With Disabilities

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Smiling children listen to teacher during class. [Lombardi has received two grants to support college and career readiness for students with disabilities.]
Allison Lombardi has received two grants to support college and career readiness for students with disabilities who are often left behind their peers in this area. (Pixabay image)

Allison Lombardi has received two grants to support college and career readiness for students with disabilities who are often left behind their peers in this area.

Editor’s Note: The following piece was originally published in UConn Today.

High school is traditionally a time when students are excitedly mapping out their futures. But students with disabilities often lack equal access to college and career readiness resources, putting them steps behind their peers and often leading them toward low-wage work.

Allison Lombardi, associate professor of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education, was recently awarded two grants supporting college and career readiness for students with disabilities from the Institute of Educational Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education. Together, the two new awards total more than $1.2 million.

Lombardi will perform a secondary analysis using the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS 2012), which has national data about students aged 13 to 21 years old with and without disabilities. The study includes data about students’ background, health, functional abilities, engagement in school, academic supports, and their expectations for the transition from high school to adult life and the steps they are taking to achieve them.

Lombardi will collaborate with UConn colleagues Graham Rifenbark, Eric Loken, and Clewiston Challenger on this project, all faculty in educational psychology, as well as Karrie Shogren and Tyler Hicks from the Kansas University Center for Developmental Disabilities.

Lombardi will apply these data in a new way to assess how students with disabilities are accessing college and career readiness resources.

“When it comes to college and career readiness, we don’t know a whole lot about how it’s defined for all students, especially not those with disabilities.” Lombardi says.

The breadth of the NLTS will allow Lombardi to study students with many kinds of disabilities, like learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, mental health disorders, and mobility or other health impairments. The study also includes students without disabilities.

“When it comes to college and career readiness, we don’t know a whole lot about how it’s defined for all students, especially not those with disabilities.”

— Associate Professor Allison Lombardi

College and career readiness is defined in terms of three key areas: academic engagement, social or interpersonal engagement, and planning for employment or post-secondary education. Previous research has not looked at all three of these domains together. This new project will build on her existing grant project, the College and Career Readiness for Transition (CCR4T), which was a $1.4 million award she received in 2019, also from the Institute of Educational Sciences.

Providing students with appropriate college and career prep can help them plan early by taking courses or participating in extracurricular activities that will be the most beneficial for their long-term goals.

Lombardi’s project will shine a light on the racial and ethnic and socioeconomic aspects of accessing college and career readiness resources, identifying possible barriers for students with and without disabilities. This aspect of the project will address a significant gap in special education research.

“We will better understand the role economic hardship and race may play in preparing youth with disabilities for college and careers,” Lombardi says.

This project will also focus on how to improve services in a post-pandemic world by looking at the situation years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lombardi will disseminate her findings to special education educators and school counselors. This will help address both sides of the coin: Those working in special education are trained to support students with disabilities but may have less experience with college and career readiness, while counselors may lack expertise regarding students with disabilities, but have a wealth of knowledge about college and career readiness.

Lombardi hopes her dissemination plan can help these two groups work collaboratively to provide better outcomes for students.

Supporting Middle School Students With Disabilities

In another newly funded grant, Lombardi is collaborating with the University of Oklahoma’s Zarrow Center, which is the lead institution on this grant, to develop an assessment tool for middle school students with disabilities. Lombardi will serve as the site PI on this grant and collaborate with Rifenbark and Tracy Sinclair, who is also faculty in educational psychology at the Neag School.

There are few assessment tools that focus on this population in sixth to eighth grade. By conducting this assessment earlier, it will give students more time to utilize their high school years.

The assessment measures social and other nonacademic skills which are the bedrock for success in many fields. This assessment will help refine a student’s individual educational program (IEP), which is a standard part of special education.

The study will follow this population of students into their high school years to help determine how helpful the assessment is in planning for high school coursework and beyond.

“This is really a unique project in that it’s taking what we do for transition assessment in high school and applying it earlier for students with disabilities in middle school,” Lombardi says.

This kind of proactive planning can help students with disabilities access more diverse career paths. Students with disabilities are often steered toward low-wage jobs or are unemployed after high school.

Lombardi hopes this kind of work can help students with disabilities access higher education and better-paying careers.

Lombardi holds a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on the transition from adolescence to adulthood, with a particular focus on college and career readiness and higher education experiences of underrepresented groups, including students with disabilities.