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Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Every time an educator chooses an image, a story, or a text, they are making a decision about memory about what is worth passing forward and to whom. Universities shape those decisions more than they often realize, and the visual legacies they create carry consequences for generations.
This panel brings together scholar-educators from National Louis University's College of Education whose work spans critical visual literacy, Latinx children's literature and religious iconography, cultural memory in picturebooks, healing-centered embodied pedagogy, and primary source inquiry. Together, we ask what it means to teach with and through images that carry cultural, spiritual, historical, and embodied memory and what responsibilities institutions hold in making that teaching visible, sustainable, and enduring.
Rather than arriving at conclusions, this panel opens a conversation. Grounded in the collective work of its presenters, the discussion turns outward. We invite attendees to explore what meaningful, sustainable infrastructure for visual literacy might look like in higher education and across countries. A proposed Visual Literacy Center at National Louis University serves as one generative example: a potential hub connecting teacher education, graduate scholarship, bilingual education, professional development, and community partnerships across borders. We ask the field: what structures and resources would most advance visual literacy research and how do we build them together?
Speakers
DX

Dr. Xiaoning Chen

Associate Professor, ESL/Bilingual Education, National Louis University
Xiaoning Chen, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of ESL/Bilingual Education at National Louis University. Dr. Chen has two decades of experience in language teacher education in the U.S. and internationally. Her research focuses on visual literacy, multicultural children’s literature... Read More →
avatar for Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D.

Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D.

Associate Professor; M.Ed. Reading Program and EdD. Teaching & Learning Program/Reading, Language, & Literacy Major Director, National Louis University
Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D. is an associate professor at National Louis University, teaching graduate youth literature and writing pedagogy, theory, and research courses. A former Spanish/English bilingual teacher (K, 2), her research focuses on the history and visual narratives of Latinx... Read More →
avatar for Dr. Geri Chesner

Dr. Geri Chesner

Professor, Strategic Educational Leadership, National Louis University
Geri has focused on the power of children's literature and visual texts as catalysts for literacy development, with particular emphasis on visual and critical literacy. She serves as a professor at National Louis University in Chicago, IL, and has been an active member of IVLA for... Read More →
avatar for Dr. Karen F. Tardrew

Dr. Karen F. Tardrew

Professor, Chair of Learning Sciences in Education, National Louis University
Dr. Karen F. Tardrew is a tenured Professor and Chair of Learning Sciences in Education at National Louis University, where she has served for over 33 years as a scholar, leader, and innovator in educator development. Her teaching and research explore the intersections of visual... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
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