Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education

Office phone: (716) 375-2315
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Plassmann Hall B-025

• ADED 208: Designing and Delivering Instruction
• ADED-208L: Instructional Design for All Learners
• EDUC-500: Research Methods in the Education
• ADED-524: Methods, Models and Management of Instruction
• ADED-306: Managing Instruction/Behavior in Secondary Education
• ADED-330: Methods, Models, Management of Instruction
• ADED-341: Secondary Science Methods
• EDUC-250: Adolescent Development and Learning
• EDUC-505: Technology for Education Professionals

• Ed.D., Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
• M.S., School Administration and Supervision and a Certificate in School Administration and Supervision (SAS), Mercy University, Dobbs Ferry, NY
• B.A., Anthropology (biological anthropology concentration) and Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

Dr. Victoria Lam, well-travelled and experienced, has taught in the New York City Public School system, private schools, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and overseas in Korea and Thailand including as a volunteer on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island and Isla de Pascua, and, in displacement camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border and in Morocco. At the secondary level, Dr. Lam has mentored new teachers and taught specifically chemistry (NY State Regents, AP, Honors, and SAT-Chemistry) including physics, biology, environmental science, earth science, and algebra and trigonometry to multilingual learners (MLLs) and non-MLLs, both with and without an individualized education program (IEP), in general education STEM and bilingual STEM education classes. In addition, she has mentored and taught undergraduate and graduate students at a variety of higher education institutions in education and special education, including speech communication, college writing, developmental English, and English as a second language (ESL). Prior to joining St. Bonaventure University, Dr. Lam was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Education at Vassar College.

• Education is a basic human right. Dr. Lam believes that her critical pedagogical approaches and research interests must intersect and serve the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, educators, educational stakeholders, the [research] community, and society. As a social change agent and global citizen, she aims to advocate and amplify equitable opportunities that extends her sphere of influence beyond the classroom community for all individuals, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, dis/ability status, language, or creed, to examine the complexity of power and privilege in shaping the policies and practices surrounding K-12 education and higher education through an intersectionality lens and critical exploration, discourse, and self-reflection. 
   
• Whose interests should schools really be serving. While the U.S. education system can [dis]empower students as learners and social beings, the role of education in a democratic society should prepare and transform students to seek and articulate their own voices in brave spaces to foster personal and professional growth in becoming critical thinkers and contributing members woven into the fabric of society. By employing a critical constructivist epistemology, that is, in a student-centered classroom enables students to be critically informed about the purpose of constructing and negotiating meanings and taking ownership of their learning including validating and reflecting on their experiences. The instructional materials presented in the classroom facilitate critical consciousness, meaningful dialogues, collective efficacy, and student agency and engagement. Students should be guided to engage in reflective discourse re-evaluating assumptions and beliefs and redressing injustices through the transformative learning process and make real-world connections to serve the public good in democratic deliberation while working toward a degree with a commitment to social justice.  
  
  
• Knowledge plays a crucial role in teaching and learning. It is the essence of activating prior knowledge and connecting new knowledge, skills, and life experiences in an inclusive learning environment rooted in understanding and empathy that informs instructional practice and heightens student learning. The transformative experience of students acquiring new lifelong learning skills that, in turn, transformed into transferable skills facilitate empowerment, particularly marginalized and first-generation college students who may not have the resources and college-readiness skills upon admission to the institution. 

Grounded in Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, Dr. Lam aims to enact positive change through an equity and anti-racism lens by exploring each research topic and line of inquiry in the social context of education. Her research primarily focuses on STEM education, literacy and language acquisition, faculty experiences in higher education and K-12 education, and educational policy and practice.