Katy Walter Lichon, Ph.D.

Katy Walter Lichon, Ph.D. is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Alliance for Catholic Education, and she serves as the Director for the ALMA Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. Under her leadership since 2012, Lichon has designed, developed, and formed – inspired by Christ the Teacher and alongside the most incredible team – the most comprehensive, impactful, and national leading effort to serve multicultural and multilingual students in U.S. Catholic schools.

ALMA's mission is to embrace the immigrant and multicultural Church as both the great legacy of Catholic education and a path to future vitality, educate multilingual students by forming educators and leaders to employ research-based practices that promote student success, and empower multicultural communities as sources of expertise, wisdom, and faith. Lichon oversees and directs the work of the ALMA Initiative (formerly known as the English as a New Language and Catholic School Advantage programs) including the Hernandez Fellows licensure preparation program, ENL educational outreach, dual language initiatives, and early childhood language intensive preschool formation. In addition, Lichon guides the work of the Latino Enrollment Institute, School Pastors' Institute, and the ACE in Chile program. Lichon also founded the Adelante Conference, Latino Educator and Administrator Development program (LEAD), and dual language programs at Holy Cross School and St. Cletus Catholic School. A true brightspot in this work and in the local community is the two-way immersion program at Holy Cross School in South Bend, Indiana. The program which is now in its eighth year, has witnessed enrollment growth from 180 to 400+ students - with Lichon proudly enrolling her own kiddos in the beautiful community and parish. Lichon is passionate about and constantly inspired by witnessing educators grow in their advocacy for equity on behalf of children, families, and schools - and in turn being transformed by the gifts that these communities share!

Lichon serves as a faculty fellow for Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, Center for Literacy Education, and Center for the Study of Languages and Culture. Lichon is an educational linguist who focuses on the education of K-12 multilingual learners in Catholic schools and teacher education, newcomer students, dual language / two-way immersion bilingual program formation, translanguaging, maternal influences upon child speech, formation of diverse leaders, and Latino enrollment in Catholic schools. This work has led to the publication of four texts: English Oral Language Assessment (ACE Press, 2013), Our Legacy and Our Future: A Framework for Serving English Learners in Catholic Schools (NCEA Press, 2017), Serving English Learners: A Diocesan Handbook for K-12 (NCEA Press, 2018), and Ten Days to Becoming a Better Educator of English Learners (NCEA Press, 2018), as well as numerous articles in diverse publications. She was honored by the Alliance for Catholic Education with the Christ the Teacher award in 2020.

At Notre Dame, Lichon instructs courses related to English learners and instructional methods, translanguaging, English as a second language, and in the context of courses instructed to teachers in Santiago, Chile, courses in English as a foreign language. Applying her passions to Catholic schools at a local level is paramount to Lichon, and the work of the ALMA Initiative has resulted in the enrollment of 9,000+ Latino students in Catholic schools, the formation of over 500 Hernandez Fellows (in-school experts and teacher leaders who have earned their English as New Language certifications from Notre Dame), education of over 11,000 Catholic school educators through high-impact professional development, founding of the Dual Language Initiatives including two dual language schools and 26 language intensive preschool programs, the shepherding of 1,300 Catholic school pastors in their ministry of serving Catholic schools, the generation the most extensive library of resources (podcasts, videos, books, blogs, and media) focused on ELs in Catholic schools with a reach of over 10,000 viewers, and the founding of the first leadership formation program for Catholic Latino educators with over 150 LEAD Fellows.

An educational linguist, a national speaker, and former 2nd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and middle school educator (Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and Chile), Lichon received her B.B.A. in marketing and management from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, and her Ph.D. in Educational Philosophy from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She resides in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband and four children, and she dabbles in gardening, dreams of being a better interior designer, loves a good book club, and founded a cakeball baking business that she hopes to return to soon!
 

Listen to Katy's episode of Think. Pair. Share.

Degrees

• 2015 Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy in Education, Southern Methodist University
• 2007 M.Ed., University of Notre Dame
• 2005 B.A., Marketing and Management, Baylor University

Publications

• English Oral Language Assessment (ACE Press, 2013)
• Our Legacy and Our Future: A Framework for Serving English Learners in Catholic Schools (NCEA Press, 2017)
• Supporting English Learners: A Diocesan Handbook for K-12 (NCEA Press, 2018)
• Ten Days to Becoming a Better Educator of English Learners (NCEA Press, 2018)