COEHS mourns the death of emerita faculty member Lois Meyer

The College of Education and Human Sciences (COEHS) has announced the passing of Dr. Lois Meyer. Meyer was an emerita Bilingual/TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) faculty. She also served as chair of the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies and a passionate scholar and leader in bilingual education, second language acquisition, and Indigenous language revitalization.

Meyer spent more than two decades working with Plan Pilot-CMPI, a coalition of Indigenous bilingual educators in rural Oaxaca who Meyer began working with after she received a 1999-2000 Fulbright Senior Research award. She would go on to co-author and publish many articles in English and Spanish with her Oaxacan colleagues. Meyer also co-edited three books, including New World of Indigenous Resistance (City Lights, 2010), which included interviews with Noam Chomsky and Indigenous leaders from throughout the Americas.

Dean Kristopher M. Goodrich said, "Lois was a valued and beloved member of the COEHS community. Her loss was a shock to many of us, but it also gave those who knew her a chance to reflect on the impact she had, both at UNM and internationally. Lois was a passionate teacher, scholar, and advocate for multilingual communities, and her work brought attention to communities often overlooked in traditional academic canons."

David Rogers, senior advisor to Dual Language Education of New Mexico, reflected: "Lois worked tirelessly with our Indigenous colleagues from Oaxaca, arranging conversations at La Cosecha Conference and with Tribal Language Nests." He added, "Her passion for Indigenous education was contagious and inspired many of us at DLeNM to engage more deeply with Tribal Language Communities. That is something we will always treasure from Lois."

The College extends condolences to Meyer's family, friends, former students, and colleagues.