Maria Tsalikis

Maria Alvarez-Tsalikis, EdD, has been serving students for 25 years. Dr. Tsalikis began her career as a teacher with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. As a public school teacher, Dr. Tsalikis taught a variety of grade levels ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade and worked with struggling readers and students with special needs. As an associate teaching professor in higher education, Dr. Tsalikis has developed and taught graduate and undergraduate literacy courses in varying modalities. She currently serves as the Elementary Education Program Director, the MSCI-Elementary Education Strand Faculty Lead, and a fellow for the Provost’s Hybrid Initiative.

Dr. Tsalikis' background is in curriculum and instruction, with a focus in literacy education and special education; her interests include research in the areas of language and early literacy development. She has presented at state and national conferences in the areas of literacy and teacher preparation, she has also collaborated on several grants. Dr. Tsalikis is involved with the community through her leadership with projects at local public schools that focus on teacher preparation programs, teaching academies, teacher professional development, and more recently, with efforts bridging the achievement gap for struggling readers and students with dyslexia.