Faculty Directory

Brook Goralski-Cumbajin, PhD is an assistant professor of Spanish and serves as director of the Hispanic-Student Initiatives (HSI) initiative at Alverno College. As a faculty member in teacher education, she specializes in ESL and bilingual licensure and also mentors future educators as a clinical experience supervisor for ESL/bilingual candidates.

With more than 20 years of experience in education, Goralski-Cumbajin has served in diverse roles, including educator, instructional coach, program coordinator, statewide title III consultant and curriculum developer. Her work has consistently focused on advancing educational equity for Wisconsin’s linguistically and culturally diverse students and families.

She holds a BA in Second and Foreign Language Education and an MA in Spanish and Latin American Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is also certified as a PreK–12 ESL and Spanish teacher, principal and director of curriculum and instruction. She earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a focus on second language acquisition, teacher preparation and cross-curricular collaboration.

Goralski-Cumbajin’s scholarship centers on making language visible in content area instruction and preparing educators to meet the needs of multilingual learners. In addition to her academic contributions, she regularly leads workshops, presents at conferences and serves on committees that advocate for language-minority communities. Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to social justice and the integration of theory and practice in education.