Dr. Margarita Bianco is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. Professor Bianco teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in special education, educational psychology and urban community teacher education. Prior to joining the faculty at CU Denver, Dr. Bianco worked as a K-12 classroom teacher for more than 20 years in public and private schools in the US and overseas.
Dr. Bianco is a first generation college graduate. She draws on these rich personal and professional experiences to inform her work.
Dr. Bianco is also the Founder and Executive Director of Pathways2Teaching, an innovative pre-collegiate program designed to encourage high school students of color to enter the teacher workforce as a way to disrupt educational inequities.
Professor Bianco's research examines diversifying the teacher workforce by implementing pre-collegiate teacher pathway programs for high school students of color. She also investigates the effects of deficit thinking and denied opportunities for underrepresented gifted students (students of color and students with disabilities). Her commitment to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is a unifying theme that is interwoven throughout all aspects of her research, teaching, service and consulting work.
Dr. Bianco is an active member of several national professional organizations and has presented her work at the American Education Research Association, The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the Council for Exceptional Children, Teacher Education Division, Council for Learning Disabilities, National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems, National Association of Multicultural Education, Council for Educational Diagnostic Services and the National Association of Gifted and Talented Children. She has authored numerous book chapters and articles in leading educational journals including: Intervention in Schools and Clinic, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, The Journal of Negro Education, and Learning Disability Quarterly.
Professor Bianco has received numerous commendations for her research and teaching including: the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities, the University of Colorado Denver’s Rosa Parks Diversity Award, the 2011 University of Colorado President’s Diversity Award, the University of Colorado’s 2012 Teaching Excellence Award, International Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) Floyd G. Hudson Outstanding Service Award , and recently Dr. Bianco was given the distinct honor of being awarded the University of Colorado's Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassadorship representing all 4 campuses. In March 2019, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education named Dr. Bianco as one of the nation’s top 35 women in higher education and in 2020, Bianco was awarded the Teacher Diversity Research Award by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Diversified Teacher Workforce.
Most recently, Dr. Bianco was named one of the University of Colorado Denver's TIAA Chancellor’s Urban Engaged Scholars
Dr. Bianco currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Higher Education Taskforce of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and is a Research Affiliate with I-SEEED and the Culturally Responsive Urban Education (CRUE) Center.
Dr. Bianco is a first generation college graduate. She draws on these rich personal and professional experiences to inform her work.
Dr. Bianco is also the Founder and Executive Director of Pathways2Teaching, an innovative pre-collegiate program designed to encourage high school students of color to enter the teacher workforce as a way to disrupt educational inequities.
Professor Bianco's research examines diversifying the teacher workforce by implementing pre-collegiate teacher pathway programs for high school students of color. She also investigates the effects of deficit thinking and denied opportunities for underrepresented gifted students (students of color and students with disabilities). Her commitment to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is a unifying theme that is interwoven throughout all aspects of her research, teaching, service and consulting work.
Dr. Bianco is an active member of several national professional organizations and has presented her work at the American Education Research Association, The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the Council for Exceptional Children, Teacher Education Division, Council for Learning Disabilities, National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems, National Association of Multicultural Education, Council for Educational Diagnostic Services and the National Association of Gifted and Talented Children. She has authored numerous book chapters and articles in leading educational journals including: Intervention in Schools and Clinic, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, The Journal of Negro Education, and Learning Disability Quarterly.
Professor Bianco has received numerous commendations for her research and teaching including: the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities, the University of Colorado Denver’s Rosa Parks Diversity Award, the 2011 University of Colorado President’s Diversity Award, the University of Colorado’s 2012 Teaching Excellence Award, International Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) Floyd G. Hudson Outstanding Service Award , and recently Dr. Bianco was given the distinct honor of being awarded the University of Colorado's Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassadorship representing all 4 campuses. In March 2019, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education named Dr. Bianco as one of the nation’s top 35 women in higher education and in 2020, Bianco was awarded the Teacher Diversity Research Award by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Diversified Teacher Workforce.
Most recently, Dr. Bianco was named one of the University of Colorado Denver's TIAA Chancellor’s Urban Engaged Scholars
Dr. Bianco currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Higher Education Taskforce of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and is a Research Affiliate with I-SEEED and the Culturally Responsive Urban Education (CRUE) Center.