Alexandra F. McGrath

Alexandra Federico McGrath is a doctoral candidate (degree expected May 2026) in Equity, Bilingualism, and Biliteracy in the School of Education. A former secondary public school teacher and advisor in the South Bronx, Alexandra has worked closely with many first-generation and bilingual students in the college application process. Her research and teaching interests center on the access and persistence of historically excluded student populations in higher education, particularly first-generation, BIPOC, and bilingual students. More specifically, she examines students’ diverse language practices and how Critical Language Awareness can be integrated into teacher education to challenge “standard/academic English,” monoglossic language ideologies, and white normativity in schools and universities. As a white, English-dominant bilingual, Alexandra is continually reflecting on her own language practices and the ways that bi/multilingualism is taken up across different bodies and spaces, particularly in educational contexts.