Patsy Egan

Patsy Egan, PhD, ATLAS Director, holds a BA in Russian Language from the University of Nebraska, as well as an MA in English as a Second Language and a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction (Second Languages & Cultures) from the University of Minnesota. She has taught adults since 1994, working extensively with adult immigrants and refugees in Nebraska and Minnesota. Her teaching and research focuses on literacy development and teacher education for adult learners, including Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL). Patsy has been an adjunct faculty member at Hamline University since 2002 and is a frequent local and national conference presenter, invited trainer and author. She was involved with the creation and subsequent PD around the English Language Proficiency Standards released from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) in 2016. She served as the past-president of LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults), an international organization whose mission is to support adults with little or no home language schooling or literacy, who are now learning to read and write for the first time in a new language.

As director of ATLAS, Patsy collaborates with Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) staff on multiple projects focused on identifying, planning, designing, and evaluating the training and professional development needs of ABE/ESL practitioners across the state. One of these efforts is to work with MDE staff in providing leadership for the MN ABE Professional Development Committee. Patsy also develops and facilitates workshops for practitioners in the four regions of the MN professional development system on topics including: English language instruction, second language acquisition, literacy development, standards implementation, project based learning, and more.