My name is Tianna Bankhead and I am a native Nebraskan, originally from Omaha. I have been working in education for 14 years. My experience starts with before and after school programs. I was an English Language Learner Teacher for 6 years - K-12 and adult. I completed my Bachelor and Master degrees at UNL in TLTE. Currently, I am a graduate assistant in TLTE, teaching undergraduates.

Research Interests

- Preparing pre-service and in-service educators to work with multilingual learners 
- Black Education - Historical and the connections to the present
- Racial Literacy

Publications & Conference Presentations

Peer Reviewed Journals
[1] Catalano, T.A., Bankhead, T.L., Morales, A.R., Bock Thiessen, C, Kachnowski, B.A. (under review). Addressing the Language, Education, and Identity Development of Transnational Youth in Preservice/Inservice Teacher Education Programs Using Forum Theater. Behavioral Sciences


[2] Catalano, T.A., Kachnowski, B.A., Bankhead, T.L., Bloomfield, L., Binkley, S., Tamimdar, Z. (under review). Lights, Camera, Re-cap: Filmmaking as Aesthetic Education for Teachers of Multilingual Learners. Journal of Multilingual Education Research. 


[3] Viesca, K. M., Morita-Mullaney, T., Leider, C. M., Pratt, K. L., Yilmaz, T., Sun, W., Jeong, H., Holmes, M., Onwubuya, G., Aguilar Chávez, G., Espinosa-Cevallos, L. F., de Jong, E., Chang-Bacon, C., Carson, C., Terrell, K. L., Amoakoh, J., Gómez, M., Kiramba, L., Fotouhi, G., Bankhead, T . . . Valdez, V. (under review). 50 years of conceptualizing, measuring, and imagining equity in multilingual education: Towards transformative practices that support multilingual community thriving. Review of Research in Education. 

Editor Reviewed Book Chapters

Kachnowski, B.A., Bankhead., T.L. (under review). Our joy is structural: designing sustainable futures for educators of Color. Navigating borderlands: Promoting emancipation across learning spaces. Springer. 

Conference Presentations
Lee, V., Kachnowski, B.A., Bankhead, T.L., & Engeler, A. (November 2, 2025). Existence in the Gray: a Duo-Ethnography of Dehumanization in Motion. American Educational Studies Association Annual Conference. American Educational Studies Association. Albuquerque, NM.


Bankhead, T.L. (April 24, 2025). The Paradox of Colonialism and Gangs. Paper presentation. Land, Migration, & Indigeneity: Communication Scholars for Coalitional Praxis and Liberation. University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Lincoln, NE. 


Kachnowski, B.A., Bankhead, T.L., Lee, V. & Engeler, A. (April 12, 2025). We want to be here, but how can we stay here?: Fostering Community Spaces of Healing through Plática-informed Pedagogy. Nurturing Pedagogies of Collective Healing. Sacramento State University. Sacramento, CA