JoAnn Canales, PhD

Founding Dean of Graduate Studies
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Dr. JoAnn Canales received her PhD in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in bilingual education from The University of Texas at Austin in 1985, her master’s degree from Laredo State University in bilingual education with an emphasis in Spanish in 1978, and her bachelor’s of science degree in speech pathology and audiology from the University of Houston in 1973. She has 24 years of teaching experience: five years in the public schools and 19 years at the university level at three different public IHEs in Texas and Colorado. In 2005-2006, she received the Excellence in Teaching Award at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Dr. Canales has more than twenty years of experience working collaboratively with school districts, regional entities, state departments, state and national organizations, and international institutions of higher education. She has served on state accreditation teams in Texas, Louisiana, and Rhode Island and most recently was an invited panelist for an Institute on Accreditation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE).

Her international experience includes serving as a co-principal investigator with university colleagues in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico; as an evaluator examining the educational needs in Trinidad and Tobago; and as a presenter on a variety of topics at international conferences in Mexico. In 2009, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, she addressed various higher education stakeholders in Lima, Peru on issues related to accreditation and program quality.

She has authored or co-authored book chapters, textbooks, articles and reports/handbooks on second language learning and teacher preparation.