Marie Lily Cerat

Marie Lily Cerat, Haitian Language Delegate

Marie Lily Cerat has a Ph.D. in Urban Education and a Certificate in Africana Studies from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Through the theoretical lenses of post-colonialism and culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, her work examines the effects of the exclusion of Haitian language and culture in the education of Haitian learners.

Dr. Cerat has worked in the K-16 New York public education system as a classroom teacher, a staff developer and a college teacher for over 20 years. Her academic writings have appeared in Rethinking Schools, the Journal of Haitian Studies, and the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. In addition to her scholarly activities, Dr. Cerat has a long history of organizing within the New York Haitian community. She is the co-founder of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), a group that was established in 1992, to provide ESL and adult literacy programs to Haitian immigrants and refugees in the Brooklyn area. Today, HWHR continues to provide educational services, as well as organizes leadership training to help members advocate on their own behalf for civil, educational, social, labor/economic and immigration justice.