Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dr. Gladys Barbosa Labas is being honored this fall with the prestigious Multistate Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) Lifetime Recognition Award.
Over the course of her five-decade career, Labas has accomplished significant milestones, including becoming the first Latina administrator in an urban school district, co-authoring bilingual legislation in Connecticut, serving as the state’s director for equity and language in education, lecturing on bilingual and special education at UConn, and being honored with the prestigious Milken Educator Award.
“It’s such an honor to receive this recognition from my colleagues in the field of bilingual education,” said Labas. “To me, this is the highest honor.”
This past May, Labas joined a group of educators and policymakers in Washington, D.C., for a White House summit hosted by the Biden-Harris administration. The summit focused on chronic absenteeism and increasing student engagement. Her former Meriden Public Schools student, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, has also invited her expertise in researching and strengthening public education in Puerto Rico.
“We in the College of Education are thrilled – but not at all surprised – that Dr. Gladys Labas has been selected to receive this award,” said Christopher Trombley, interim dean of the College of Education.
“Dr. Labas is known across Connecticut as la madrina, because she has been at the forefront of bilingual education – including her leadership in authoring Connecticut’s first law on the subject, as well as her role in helping to write the curriculum for the state’s recently implemented African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies high school course.”
Labas will be officially recognized for her work at MABE’s 50th Birthday Celebration on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Worcester, Mass.
