Jesus Cortez

Dr. Jesus Cortez has taught at California State University, Chico for the past twenty-six years. He served as CSU, Chico's Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Studies for 16 years, and was named California State University, Chico Outstanding Professor 1992-93. Dr. Cortez currently teaches courses in Reading, Multicultural Children's Literature, and Literacy for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations.

In addition, Dr. Cortez, a former elementary and secondary school teacher, has worked as a consultant on issues of Literacy and Multicultural Literature at both the state and federal level, advising the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, University of California, Santa Cruz, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs, the U.S. Research and Evaluation Committee, the U.S. National Head Start Bureau, the California State Department of Education, and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Currently Dr. Cortez serves on two national committees for International Reading Association (IRA): Teachers' Choices and Children's Choices, joint projects for IRA that identifies and rewards exemplary literature in the field. Dr. Cortez is frequently featured at national events, conferences, and professional development workshops as an expert in the education of the linguistically and culturally diverse student populations.