About
- Sociocultural Linguistics, Spanish, Urban Education; University of Maryland Baltimore County
- Carroll College, Department of Languages & Literature; Adjunct Faculty, Spanish
Laura Rutter Strickling, Ph.D. grew up in rural Gold Hill, Oregon, graduated from Crater High School, and then went on to complete undergraduate work at Brigham Young University in Art and Music in 1977. Four kids later, she finished a Spanish degree with a secondary teaching certification from Augusta State University, Georgia in 1997.
In between those two decades, Laura lived in Spain for seven years, homeschooled kids off and on, and taught all levels of high school Spanish including grammar and literature. She went back to school and received an M.A. in Intercultural Communication and Spanish in 2008, and a Ph.D. in Socio-cultural Linguistics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2012. Her research focused on the impact of educator’s attitudes toward students who speak African American English, and she developed a model that explains the process of reframing a linguistic mindset.
From 2012 to 2014, Dr. Strickling completed a post-doctoral position in Urban Education where she participated in evaluating the efficacy of Turnaround interventions in low-performing schools in Baltimore and two other counties.
Since that time, she wrote a book, On Fire in Baltimore: Black Mormon Women and Conversion in a Raging City, and has been teaching Spanish at Brigham Young University, Idaho.
Now that her husband, Pat, has retired, Laura lives in Helena where she likes to spend her free time knitting, spinning wool, and playing with her eight grandchildren when they come to visit.
I am delighted to be part of the Carroll College academic community where faith, reason, and free inquiry are recognized as the foundation in one's search for truth.
Academic Preparation
2012-2014 Post Doctoral Position: Urban Education and Policy, University of Maryland Baltimore County & Towson State University. Assistant Director of Qualitative Inquiry for the Center for Application and Innovation Research in Education.
2012 Ph.D., Department of Language, Literacy & Culture, University of Maryland Baltimore County. Dissertation entitled: "This Whole Language Variation Journey": Examining Teachers' Changing Beliefs about Language and Linguistically Aware Applications.
2008 M.A., Intercultural Communication & Spanish. Department of Modern Languages, Literature and Intercultural Communication, University of Maryland Baltimore County Research entitled: The Pragmatics of Prayer: The Mediating Influence of Social Position on Perceptions of Power Distance as Latter-day Saint Women of a Baltimore Congregation Approach God.
1997 Post Baccalaureate: Spanish & Education, Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia.
1977 B.A., Art & Music, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Research Interests
Second language acquisition, Spanish, language and gender, language and racial constructs, language and religion, discourse analysis, intercultural communication, professional development in multicultural education, feminist qualitative research methods
Most Recent Publications
Books
2018 Strickling, Laura Rutter, "On Fire in Baltimore: Black Mormon and Conversion in a Raging City." Kofford Books. ISBN: 978-1-58958-716-8 https://gregkofford.com/products/on-fire-in-baltimore
Articles / Book Chapters
2021 The Process of Reframing a Linguistic Mindset (RLM) and Its Implications for Professional Development in Education, Applied Linguistics eJournal, Volume 2, Issue 20, June 15, 2021 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3859103
2014 Strickling, L.R. & Doneker, K.L., "Choreographing Partnerships within an Organizational Structure of Accountability: Maryland State Department of Education's Shift from Compliance Monitor to Breakthrough Partner." Metropolitan Universities Journal, 25(2) https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/2057
2013 Strickling, L.R. (Fall 2013). "The third space and beyond: Review of Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds." Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, Hyperrhiz.10. ISSN 1555-9351. https://www.academia.edu/4558902/The_third_space_and_beyond_Review_of_digital_religion_Understanding_religious_practice_in_new_media_worlds
2013 Mallinson, Strickling, Charity Hudley. "It's a language variation and it has it's own structure: K-12 educators in Maryland and Virginia talk about language variation in the classroom." American Speech, Spring 2013, 88(1), 100-101. Music for podcast composed and performed by Laura Strickling. http://americanspeech.dukejournals.org/content/88/1.toc