Project UNITED continues to transform English language teaching in Iowa
In 2022, L&L faculty members Aliza Fones and Carmen Durham received a five-year grant of almost $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education to address the need for more trained educators to work with Iowa’s growing population of multilingual students. The grant provides scholarship funding to cover tuition costs for the English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement for both in-service and pre-service teachers. Elise DuBord (Spanish faculty) and Elizabeth Zwanziger (French faculty) are also part of the project. For the grant, Fones and Durham partnered with the Central Rivers Area Education Agency to directly address the need for ESL-endorsed teachers in the region. Fones notes that "intentionally partnering with the AEA has allowed us to identify the districts and schools with the most need, and to offer crucial support for both rural and urban districts.”
This fall, 2025, a new group of graduate and undergraduate students joined Project UNITED. These recipients are earning their ESL endorsement or pursuing UNI’s online masters in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) degree while teaching or preparing to teach multilingual learners in Iowa schools.
Dr. Shelby Miller, Project UNITED’s recruitment specialist, emphasizes the broader importance of this work: “Every scholarship we award and every educator we prepare expands the reach of high-quality instruction that helps multilingual learners see the relevance of learning and believe in their ability to succeed beyond graduation.”
For scholarship recipients, the experience has been transformative. In-service teacher Lydia Butters (Cedar Falls High School) shares that “this opportunity has been tremendous because it has allowed me to make connections with other in-service teachers outside of my grade level and subject.” Fellow in-service recipient Carolyn Shives (West Delaware Elementary School) adds “Project UNITED has affirmed my belief in and increased my confidence to teach and provide every student the opportunity for high-quality education.”
UNI undergraduate student Erin Winker says the scholarship has helped her better understand the profession: “With this experience, I will be able to see more of what teaching is like from both sides and the bigger ‘behind-the-scenes’ work that teachers do each day.”
Project UNITED’s impact is already visible. Project UNITED’s postdoctoral scholar, Tipsuda Chaomuangkhong, notes that the program has “accelerated progress toward the ESL endorsement and TESOL degree,” while also helping teachers design “linguistically responsive and standards-aligned objectives that draw on students’ full linguistic resources.”
As the project expands statewide with online professional learning for teachers available in Spring 2026, the team remains focused on ensuring access to research-based teaching practices. As Chaomuangkhong explains, “without statewide reach, access to strong instruction becomes a zip-code lottery. A broad audience lets us share a linguistically inclusive toolkit while honoring local context.”
Cody Boozell, UNITED’s project manager, highlights the long-term goal: “Ultimately, this support empowers educators to better serve their multilingual students, enriching learning experiences and promoting greater ESL teacher preparation across the state.” He goes on to add “with nearly $260,000 awarded in scholarships, we’re seeing growing interest from both pre-service and in-service educators who want to pursue an ESL endorsement.”
Through continued collaboration and outreach, Project UNITED is equipping current and future educators to meet the needs of Iowa’s multilingual learners, and in doing so, transforming classrooms across the state. For more information about Project UNITED and grant scholarships, please email united@uni.edu.