Lub Zej Zog Critical and Indigenizing Hmong Education Studies Writing Fellow
Our
Fellowship
Lub Zej Zog Critical and Indigenizing Hmong Education Studies Writing Fellow Program started in 2022 to bring together emerging HMoob (Hmong/Mong) scholars who are working towards publications. These works included unpublished manuscripts, unfinished manuscripts, public scholarship, dissertations in progress, or dissertations that have not been converted. The goal of this project is to support and increase publication for public knowledge, dissemination, and content material.
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The current 2025-26 Fellow Program is led by Dr. Kaozong Mouavangsou (University of California, Davis) with embedded mentorship support by co-PIs Dr. Chong Moua (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh), Dr. Choua Xiong (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh), Dr. Vicky Xiong-Lor (California State University Fresno), and Dr. Jenna Cushing-Leubner (University of Wisconsin Whitewater).
Meet the fellows
Learn more about the 2025-26 Fellows in their bios below. Explore the publications, public scholarship, and projects that our fellows are currently working on below. The publications listed below include works completed as Fellows and outside of the LZZ Fellow Program.
Dr. bao vaaj nchaiv txab
Nam tsev tus coj lub Cuab yig
All of my formal education and most of my mentorships have circled around HMoob feminism, Ancestral memories, Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, oral traditions, lug ntsuag/storytelling. Kuv tsis yog ntxhais txawj, ntxhais ntse. Kuv yog ntxhais kawm.
Dr. Caroline Paaj Zaub Thao
Lug Txaaj/Kwv Txhiaj Master, Language Sustainability Pedagogist
Dr. Caroline's work heavily focuses on deconstructing traditional teaching frameworks to better empower Hmong voices and preserve cultural history. She holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Sacramento State
Dr. Thong Vang
Educator and Community Scholar
Dr. Thong's scholarship centers on HMoob research methodology and the role of elders, orality, relationality, and ceremony as forms of intergenerational pedagogy.
Roberta Lee Collison
Doctoral Student, Culturally Sustaining Education, University of Washington
Roberta's work draws on decolonial feminism, critical diaspora studies, and culturally sustaining pedagogies to explore how HMoob epistemologies and ontologies can support Hmong educators in confronting and refusing schooling's colonial logics, especially around ability, othering, and difference.
Kaj Tug (Emily) Lee
Dr. Lee Her
Assistant Professor at Lehigh University
As an Assistant Professor in the Teaching, Learning and Technology program at Lehigh University's College of Education. Her research specializes in heritage language maintenance, focusing specifically on Hmong dual-language bilingual education policies, equity, and linguistic accessibility.
Dr. Xee Yang
Multilingual Program Specialist Administrator
Kâ12 administrator and Multilingual Program Specialist for Little Rock School District, leading innovative supports and programming for multilingual learners. Proudly serves as Vice President 2 of ARKTESOL.