Esther Oey
Assistant Professor of Education
Coordinator of Teacher Education Program

In 1999, Esther Oey traded the warm weather of Los Angeles for a return to her native northern New York to work at St. Lawrence. Oey grew up in neighboring Franklin County , left the area to attend Swarthmore College and moved to Los Angeles to get her doctorate, but decided to pursue her career at a small liberal arts school that was closer to her family.

Oey advises St. Lawrence's student teachers and teaches courses in educational psychology and contemporary problems in education. She also oversees Project-Based Learning Partnerships, a National Science Foundation grant known formerly as the Teaching Scholars program. The $2 million grant allows St. Lawrence science majors to apply their knowledge to a curriculum for students from eight North Country school districts. Recruitment for these positions continues through the end of February; training for the program will begin in August.

Oey is part of a growing “teaching circle” of faculty that is trying to facilitate discussions about racial issues and their pedagogy. She indicates that St. Lawrence's efforts to discuss diversity and the issues that accompany it drew her to the University. “Teaching about diversity is one of my passions,” she says. “We have been meeting for two years to share stories from our classrooms, share teaching methods and discuss readings by other scholars.”