Prioritizing Happiness (w/ Somer Levine, Ed.M.)

Join us as we talk with Somer about finding happiness and advocating for yourself in graduate school. Somer Levine is a fourth year doctoral student at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education with a focus in literacy. Somer can be found brainstorming ways to demystify the process of learning to read for elementary students and parents, developing stewards of the ocean through marine-focused elementary reading instruction, and leading public school reform in BIPOC communities. Somer’s current research explores how parental and teacher perspectives on elementary reading align and differ in Spanish dominant schools. Somer is a first-gen college student, a state licensed reading specialist, and the first in her family to pursue a doctoral degree. She earned an Ed.M. in Reading Education from Boston University in 2012, her M.A. in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University in 2008, and B.A. in English from UC Santa Barbara in 2006. Somer is a mom to two brilliant elementary kiddos. In her free time she enjoys kayaking with her family, gardening, and training her 9 month old puppy.