Emerson Odango

Overview

Emerson Lopez Odango, PhD, is a Principal Research Associate for Education Studies with nearly 15 years of experience in providing capacity-building technical assistance and conducting research in education and multilingual/multicultural contexts. Odango has served clients such as state and local education agencies (SEAs and LEAs), state and federal government agencies, and institutions of higher education, in both U.S. contexts and among various Pacific sovereign nation contexts, particularly the Freely Associated States.

Odango has supported clients to improve multilingual language education policy, language and culture curriculum, social-emotional learning and trauma-informed practice, equity in education, strategic performance management, and informal STEM learning models and resources. Odango builds clients’ capacities to identify and use evidence-based programs, policies, practices, and interventions, drawing upon high-quality data to implement systems change integrated with equity. An overarching context of Odango’s work is learning along with and elevating the voices of Indigenous, Native, and Tribal communities in their self-determination of educational outcomes.

Odango serves as the lead for the Native Education Collaborative, one of the signature projects of the National Comprehensive Center. He is also a subject matter expert for the Region 5 Comprehensive Center.

Education

• Certificate, Education Finance, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
• PhD, Linguistics, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
• MA, Linguistics, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
• BA, Interdisciplinary Studies – Linguistics, College of William and Mary