Anita Hernández Ph.D.

Anita Hernández, Ph.D., is a professor of language, literacy, and culture and the Don and Sarrah Kidd Endowed Chair in Literacy at New Mexico State University, where she works in the Department of Teacher Preparation, Administration and Leadership. A former bilingual primary-grade teacher, she taught in bilingual classrooms for about fourteen years before transitioning to higher education, where she has spent more than two decades preparing future teachers and supporting practicing classroom teachers. She earned her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture (with emphases in bilingualism and sociolinguistics) from Stanford University.

Hernández teaches and publishes in the areas of biliteracy, critical literacy, teacher education, and English–Spanish cognate instruction. She is coauthor of Teaching Cognates/Cognados Through Picture Books: Resources for Fostering Spanish–English Vocabulary Connections (2023), as well as scholarly articles on English–Spanish cognates in picture books and award-winning children’s literature. Her work includes designing vocabulary curricula for Latino English language learners and helping educators integrate cognate-based vocabulary development into picture book read-alouds and literacy instruction.