Ryan Pontier

Ryan Pontier, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Education & Human Development, Florida International University

Dr. Ryan Pontier is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education & Human Development at Florida International University. He previously served as faculty at Miami Dade College, after earning his Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Learning from the University of Miami. His research interests include appropriate and effective instructional practices for emergent bilingual learners, teacher education preparation for working with emergent bilingual learners, and teachers’ language ideology. Dr. Pontier serves as an expert in bilingualism and bilingual education for the United Way of Miami Center for Excellence in Early Education, Immediate Past President of Miami-Dade TESOL and Bilingual Education Association, Member-at-Large for Sunshine State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the Florida Association for Bilingual Education (FABE), Co-Chair for the Research and Evaluation Special Interest Group within the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), Co-Moderator of the Sunshine State TESOL advocacy group, Chair of the Early Childhood Bilingual Education Council for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Florida, and Co-Chair of the Government & Media Relations Committee for LULAC Florida. Dr. Pontier began his education career with Teach For America in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where he taught 3rd grade in Spanish at a dual language elementary school one mile from the Rio Grande River. He and his wife are raising two bilingual daughters.