Outstanding Faculty Teaching
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Ph.D.
San Francisco State University
Professor, Asian American Studies
Humanizing pedagogy is not for the faint of heart, because it is all about the heart. To truly practice teaching that ensures all students feel a sense of belonging in this time of crisis, it is essential to reimagine our pedagogies with our hearts.”
Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales is known among her colleagues as a leader in creative and innovative curriculum and teaching methods. Her teaching strategies are widely regarded as models for engaging with students from elementary school to postgraduate studies and providing transformative experiences for students inside and outside of the classroom.
Tintiangco-Cubales has developed and taught nine different undergraduate and graduate courses in Asian American studies and ethnic studies, teaches seminars in the Educational Doctoral Program and supports the teaching of ethnic studies each semester to more than 150 students in the Step to College program. She has served as an advisor for the department’s B.A. majors and minors, as well as the coordinator for the Asian American Studies Master of Arts Program. As an advisor, she has served as chair and/or committee member on more than 70 master’s thesis committees and she has sat on and/or chaired 40 dissertations in the doctoral program in education both within and outside of San Francisco State. She is frequently credited with helping to illuminate a pathway for working-class and first-generation students at SFSU.
Tintiangco-Cubales’ work in the areas of critical pedagogy and ethnic studies education has been widely published. She has also created important research-based tools for teachers who work with students and youth of color, earning praise from her peers for helping to “fill the gap” in resources available for culturally and community responsive curricula.
Along with her students, Tintiangco-Cubales founded an award-winning and nationally recognized organization known as Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), an ethnic studies educational community. Through the program, graduate and undergraduate students from SFSU and surrounding universities pursuing careers in education or community service receive a unique opportunity to teach critical Filipina/x/o American studies in K-12 schools and community colleges. They gain skills in the practice of critical pedagogy, culturally and community responsive pedagogy, curriculum development, and teaching. PEP has produced hundreds of teachers who are serving local communities in nonprofit organizations and teaching in schools and colleges across the nation.
Additionally, Tintiangco-Cubales has used her expertise to transform the K-12 ethnic studies curriculum at local, state and national levels. She has worked with districts and schools all over the country to advocate for the institutionalization and implementation of ethnic studies, and to provide pedagogical and curricular development and support.
Tintiangco-Cubales received her bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies at University of California, Berkeley and her doctorate in education at UCLA.