Gay Wilgus
Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education
On Sabbatical Fall 2023
Building
North Academic Center
Office
5/209B
Phone
212-650-5883
Website

Gay Wilgus
Profile
Gay Wilgus spent many years as teacher for two-year olds and as a music and movement consultant for preschool-aged children. Her past research has centered on the academic writing issues of early childhood education teacher candidates, programs for young immigrant children in the French and Spanish public schools and on the experiences of mothers from immigrant backgrounds as they seek services and schooling for their children with disabilities. Gay鈥檚 current research involves a comparative study of early childhood teacher preparation programs in Spain, France, Belgium and Ireland. She is the editor of Knowledge, Pedagogy and Postmulticulturalism: shifting the locus of learning in urban teacher education (Palgrave, 2013).
Education
Ph D Sociology. 2002. City University of New York Graduate Center. New York, NY
MS Ed Infant Toddler Parent Development. 1991. Bank Street College of Education. New York, NY.
MFA Dance. 1977. University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Greensboro, NC.
Other study:
Universidad de La Rioja. 2009. Logrono, Spain.
Universite de Paris VIII. 1994. Paris, France
Courses Taught
Developmental Issues in Childhood and Early Childhood Education
Problems and Issues in Childhood and Early Childhood Education
Learning in the Early Years: Infants and Toddlers
Sociology of Education
Music and Movement in Early Childhood Education
Research Interests
Children of immigration in public school systems
Experiences of immigrant mothers of children with disabilities
Publications
Book
Wilgus, G., Ed. 2013. Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Postmulticulturalism: Shifting the Locus of Learning in Urban Teacher Education. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Heffernan, V. and Wilgus, G. (Eds.) 2020. Imagining Motherhood in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.
Heffernan, V. and Wilgus, G. 2018. Introduction: Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-
First Century鈥擨mages, Representations, Constructions, Special issue: Women: a cultural review,Vol. 29(1) 1-18.
Tan, G., Gupta, A. and Wilgus, G. 2019. Investment in Early Childhood Education in a Globalized World Policies, Practices, and Parental Philosophies in China, India, and the United States
NY: Palgrave
Wilgus, G., (Ed.) 2013. Knowledge, Pedagogy and Postmulticulturalism: shifting the locus of learning in urban teacher education. NY: Palgrave.
Refereed journal articles
Wilgus, G., Valle, J. & Ware, L. 2013.鈥淎lgorithms of Access: Immigrant Mothers' Negotiations for Resources and Services,鈥 Special issue 鈥淕lobal Families鈥 Review of Disability Studies 9 (3) 79-91.
Gallwey, S. and G. Wilgus. 2013. 鈥淓quitable partnerships for mutual learning or perpetuator of North-South power imbalances? : Ireland-South Africa school links鈥 COMPARE: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. DOI:10.1080/03057925.2013.798178
Wilgus, G. 2009. Male early childhood teachers negotiate classroom dilemma: class, family, community and culture in models for moral reasoning. Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 18 (3) 215-230.
Wilgus, G. 2006. 鈥淏eyond 鈥淏ecause I said so!鈥: Three Early Childhood Teachers Challenge the Research on the Disciplinary Beliefs and Strategies of Individuals from Working Class Minority Backgrounds,鈥Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education 7 (3) 253-269.
Wilgus, G. 2005.鈥淚f you carry him around all the time at home, he expects one of us to carry him around all day here and there only TWO of us!鈥 Parents, teachers and administrators鈥 beliefs about parents鈥 role in the infant-toddler center. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 26 (3) pp. 259-273.
Wilgus, G. 2004. 鈥淭he best of intentions? A critique of programs for immigrant children in three Parisian early childhood classrooms,鈥 International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood Education, 2 (2) 12-26.
Wilgus, G. 2004. 鈥淧lanting the seeds of tolerance: Using music and movement as the basis of multicultural curriculum for two year-olds,鈥 Journal of Music and Movement Studies in Early Childhood Education, 10(4) 40-48.
Wilgus, G. and Numa-Bocage, L. M茅diation, ethnicit茅 et handicap : 茅tudes de cas de familles migrantes 脿 New York. , pp. 69 脿 91
Wilgus, G., Valle, J. & Ware, L. 2013.鈥淎lgorithms of Access: Immigrant Mothers' Negotiations for Resources and Services,鈥 Special issue 鈥淕lobal Families鈥 Review of Disability Studies 9 (3) 79-91.
Gallwey, S. and G. Wilgus. 2013. 鈥淓quitable partnerships for mutual learning or perpetuator of North-South power imbalances? : Ireland-South Africa school links鈥 COMPARE: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. DOI:10.1080/03057925.2013.798178
Wilgus, G. 2009. Male early childhood teachers negotiate classroom dilemma: class, family, community and culture in models for moral reasoning. Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 18 (3) 215-230.
Wilgus, G. 2006. 鈥淏eyond 鈥淏ecause I said so!鈥: Three Early Childhood Teachers Challenge the Research on the Disciplinary Beliefs and Strategies of Individuals from Working Class Minority Backgrounds, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education 7 (3) 253-269.
Wilgus, G. 2005.鈥淚f you carry him around all the time at home, he expects one of us to carry him around all day here and there only TWO of us!鈥 Parents, teachers and administrators鈥 beliefs about parents鈥 role in the infant-toddler center. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 26 (3) pp. 259-273.
Wilgus, G. 2004. 鈥淭he best of intentions? A critique of programs for immigrant children in three Parisian early childhood classrooms,鈥 International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood Education, 2 (2) 12-26. Wilgus, G. 2004. 鈥淧lanting the seeds of tolerance: Using music and movement as the basis of multicultural curriculum for two year-olds,鈥 Journal of Music and Movement Studies in Early Childhood Education, 10(4) 40-48.
Published Proceedings
Wilgus, G., Medina Barco, I., Ware, L. and Valle, J. February, 2014. 鈥 鈥楳i esposo va a la oficina de la concejal de la ciudad, pero yo les pregunto a las dem谩s madres en el parque鈥: Genero, inmigraci贸n y madres de ni帽os con discapacidades.鈥 (鈥 鈥楳y husband goes to the City Councilwoman鈥檚 Office but I ask the mothers in the park鈥: gender, immigration and mothers of children with disabilities鈥) Conference proceedings, "Oriente y Occidente: la construcci贸n de la subjetividad femenina." (East and West: the construction of feminine subjectivity) III Reuni贸n cient铆fica. Universidad de la Rioja, Logro帽o, Spain.
Book Chapters
Wilgus, G. 2006. 鈥淕ender Issues鈥 in Soto, L.D. (Ed.), The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S.: An Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Praeger Press. pp. 179-184.
Wilgus, G. 2005. 鈥淕ender, authority, Montessori and early childhood teachers鈥 choices of interactional and disciplinary styles鈥 in Koch, J. and Irby, B., (Eds.), Gender and Schooling in the Early Years. Westport, CT: Information Age. pp. 39-60.
Invited conference presentations (recent)
March, 2016. 鈥淚ncluyendo a las Culturas Diversas, Urbanas, de los Estudiantes Inmigrantes dentro del Curr铆culo en T九色视频.鈥 Departamentos de Facultat de Ci猫ncies de l'Educaci贸 et de Sociologia de la Universitat Aut貌noma de Barcelona.
October, 2016. 鈥淢aternit茅, ethnicit茅 et disabilty.鈥 (Motherhood, ethnicity and disability). Le laboratoire EMA (Ecole, Mutations, Apprentissages). Univ. de Cergy-Pontoise - Site de Gennevilliers.
Conference Presentations
March, 2016. Writing with Ethnically, Linguistically and Generationally Diverse Early Childhood University Students: the priority of social. 10th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference Valencia (Spain). 7th - 9th of March, 2016.
June, 2015. 鈥淐inematic Constructions of Mothering Disability: The Miracle Worker, My Left Foot, David鈥檚 Mother, and Forrest Gump鈥 Motherhood and Culture, International and Interdisciplinary Conference, 15-17 June 2015, Maynooth University, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
May, 2015. 鈥淢others of immigration find services and educational settings for their young children with disabilities.鈥 Annual Conference of theMuseum of Motherhood. 鈥淣ew Maternalisms鈥: Tales of Motherwork (Dislodging the Unthinkable)
Wilgus, G. (October, 2013) Knowledge, Pedagogy and Postmulticulturalism: shifting the locus of learning in urban teacher education. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. Dayton, Ohio.
Wilgus, G., Valle, J. and Ware, L. (November, 2012) 鈥溾楨verybody is SO helpful鈥/ 鈥楢m I in a precinct?鈥 Ethnic Stereotyping and Immigrant Mothers of Children with Disabilities.鈥 Paper presented at the Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Annual Conference, State College, PA.