From the president
We are delighted to recognize Max Limric as Fairfield University’s Newman Civic Fellow for the 2025-2026 academic year.
During his fellowship year, Max will design a professional development module to prepare Fairfield University students to support instruction for multilingual learners in our local community. This training will address a critical need for preservice teachers to engage meaningfully with immigrant- and refugee-background students to prepare for the realities of a 21st century classroom. This project builds on the research he has already conducted, which explores pedagogical strategies and language access policies to better support multilingual learners in public schools.
Over the course of his undergraduate career at Fairfield, Max has emerged as a leader in multiple areas of campus life. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of The Mirror, our student newspaper, and has served as a Resident Assistant and Community-Engaged Learning Associate. He has mentored and tutored local students through several different programs that serve refugee and immigrant students, through the Center for Social Impact, the Connecticut Writing Project, and Upward Bound.
We are proud to nominate Max as our Newman Civic Fellow to recognize his dedication to advocating for immigrant and refugee students in our local community.
Personal Statement
Even though the schools surrounding Fairfield University serve large numbers of multilingual language learners (MLLs), unless college students enroll in ESL or Bilingual teacher preparation programs, their undergraduate and graduate educations do not prepare them for the reality of their careers: That one in four students across the nation are language learners (NEA, 2025). In volunteering with organizations including the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, I not only confronted the lack of in-service teachers prepared to teach MLLs in their classrooms, but also my own lack of preparedness. Because the majority of pre-service mainstream educators are not equipped to teach MLLs, a growing population of students in the United States are overlooked. Although language learning services commonly known as ESL classes are provided for MLLs, mainstream teachers still fail their MLL students given that their education did not prepare them to respect home languages and identity when teaching. Therefore, this project aims at the creation of a digital training resource to build upon two years of research and includes actionable strategies for educators. Therefore, aspiring teachers at colleges such as Fairfield University can feel confident promoting the language learners they work with as agentive readers, writers, and thinkers.