Margie Kitano

E-Mail: kitano@mail.sdsu.edu Professor, Department of Special Education BA English Literature, UCLA MA Special Education, UCLA PhD Educational Psychology, UCLA

Background

I grew up in Gardena, California, a suburb of Los Angeles that served as home to many families of Japanese ancestry who immigrated prior to World War II. As a result of executive order 9066, my father (from Gardena) and my mother (from Norwalk) and their families sold or gave away their belongings, farm crops, and animals. They were taken to the Santa Anita horse stables and later disbursed to the Rohwer, Arkansas "relocation center." They met and married at the Rohwer center in Arkansas (see photo dated 1/16/44), where my mother graduated from high school. (Click here for additional information about internment.)

I attended UCLA for my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I began my professional career as a new assistant professor in special education at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where I prepared special education teachers, completed a postgraduate internship in psychology and eventually headed the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders. At some point during my 12 years there, a group of parents convinced me that gifted students have special needs. I organized a preschool for diverse gifted children that changed my career focus. I moved to San Diego in 1988 to serve as associate dean for faculty development and research. After ten years of administration, I received the opportunity to work with San Diego City Schools to develop a collaborative certificate and master's program in Developing Gifted Potential and joined the Department of Special Education in Fall 1998.

Interests, Activities & Plans

I have two major professional interests: prek-12 gifted education and multicultural course transformation in higher education. My special education interests focus on the psychological and educational needs of gifted individuals over the lifespan. Since coming to San Diego, I worked with San Diego City Schools' Gifted and Talented Program (with Rosa Isela Pérez) to support the developing potential of preschool children from low-income and culturally diverse backgrounds. I also directed a national study (with Carol Perkins, Mankato State University) investigating factors affecting the lifespan achievement of gifted women from African American, Asian American, Latina, and European American backgrounds. My plans are to merge these interests by developing programs that support the continued achievement of gifted girls of color beyond the k-12 years. Additionally, I am interested in the evaluation of programs that prepare teachers to work with gifted students and their families. My work in faculty development over the last ten years culminated in a co-edited text on multicultural course transformation in higher education, an area I continue to study.

Other Interesting Things

I am fond of cats and food--all kinds of each. And opera.

This is Mimi (aka Lucia), named after the heroine of La Bohéme.

Last updated on August, 1999.

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