Bianco’s interest in special and gifted education was sparked by early experiences caring for, supporting and teaching young people with additional needs. She is the founder and executive director of Pathways2Teaching, an innovative pre-collegiate program designed to encourage high school students of color to enter the teacher workforce as a way to disrupt educational inequities. Since earning a bachelor’s degree from William Paterson College, a master’s degree from Florida International University and an Ed.D. from Florida Atlantic University, the New York native has gone on to issue keynote speeches and author or co-author nearly 30 articles and publications and two training manuals on urban education, teaching pedagogy and development and effective practices for instructing students with learning disabilities or who are non English language learners, among other topics. Bianco is the recipient of several Excellence in Teaching awards at CU Denver, the Professional of the Year award from the Colorado Council for Learning Disabilities, the Floyd G. Hudson Outstanding Service Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities, and most recently, she was selected as the 2017-2019 Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador for the University of Colorado system.
