Sandra Crespo

Professor - Department of Teacher Education

Dr. Sandra Crespo is a professor and associate chairperson of graduate education in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University.  Her scholarship focuses on identifying and addressing systems of power, privilege and oppression in educational spaces— especially in mathematics classrooms and in the curriculum and pedagogy of teacher education. Using theoretical tools such as status generalization theory and critical pedagogy, her research has made it possible to reimagine mathematics classrooms as humanizing spaces for teaching and learning. Her scholarship has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Lucent Technologies Foundation, and the Michigan Department of Education. Her research has been widely published in high impact research and practitioner journals such as The Elementary School Journal, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Theory into Practice, and Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics. She is well-known for her work as author and editor of books that support the translation of research into practice (e.g., Smarter Together: Collaboration and Equity in the Elementary Math Classroom and Cases for Teacher Educators: Facilitating Conversations About Inequities in Mathematics Classrooms). She has held several leadership and mentoring positions within her field, such as mentor to the STaR Fellows Program, Editor of the Mathematics Teacher Educator journal; Associate Editor of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education; and appointed to the US National Commission on Mathematics Instruction by the National Academies by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The impact of her research, teaching, and service has been recognized with the the NSF-Early Career Award, MSU’s W. J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award, MSU’s AAN Leadership Fellow, and the AMTE Judith Jacob’s Lecture Award.

Sandra Crespo is Angie Torres-Beltran's mentor.