Rate My Professor Nancy Paugh

Nora Paugh, Ph.D., serves as Program Coordinator for K-12 programs in the Department of Educational Leadership & Foundations within the University of Texas at El Paso College of Education. Located in Education Building Room 505, she oversees coordination efforts for educational leadership preparation and is reachable at 915-747-6286 or nlpaugh@utep.edu. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Paugh obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1983, followed by a Master of Science degree. She completed her Ph.D. at UTEP in 2018, with a dissertation entitled "Language, Literacy And Project Based Learning: An Ethnographic Study of a Fifth Grade Classroom in a Dual Language Immersion School." This work examines the informal linguistic registers and project-based learning dynamics among English Language Learners in dual language immersion environments.

Paugh's career trajectory includes over 32 years of service in the El Paso Independent School District, where she worked as an English teacher and retired as a high school principal. Transitioning to higher education, she contributed as a research assistant, part-time lecturer, and Assistant Professor of Instruction in Teacher Education at UTEP. She played a key role in securing and implementing a $1.2 million Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant in 2019, partnering with the El Paso Independent School District and UTEP faculty including Jeffery Olimpo, Ph.D., of biological sciences, to recruit and prepare STEM teachers. Her academic interests focus on Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of pro-college cultures, family cultural practices in college readiness, biliteracy practices, and translocal discourses in literature discussions. Key publications feature "The Role of Family Cultural Practices in the College Readiness of Mexican American Students." Paugh has chaired dissertation committees for Ed.D. candidates in educational leadership and taught courses like RED3342 in reading education. In 2025, UTEP College of Education faculty honored her for her enduring dedication, inspiration, and impact on the field.