About Us

Amy Stuart Wells, the Director of the Reimagining Education Summer Institute and a Professor of Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also the Director of the Center for Understanding Race and Education (CURE) and co-Director of the Public Good, a non-profit public school support organization for racially and ethnically diverse schools. In February, 2016, Wells and her colleagues published a Century Foundation report titled, How Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms Can Benefit All Students. For the last 25 years, her research and writing has focused broadly on issues of race and education and more specifically on educational policies such as school desegregation, school choice, charter schools, and tracking and how they shape and constrain opportunities for students of color. Wells’ on-going research project, “Metro Migrations, Racial Segregation and School Boundaries,” examines urban and suburban demographic change and the role that public schools and their boundaries play in who moves where. The final report from the suburban research phase of that project, Divided We Fall: The Story of Separate and Unequal Suburban School Districts 60 years after Brown, was published in Spring 2014; related articles were published in the Washington Post Answer Sheet, The Atlantic CitiLab, and Long Island Newsday.

Wells is also the recipient of several honors and awards. She is a member of the National Academy of Education (2014 inductee), a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (2013 inductee), 2007-2008 Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences; a 2001-02 Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation's Scholars Program; the 2000 Julius & Rosa Sachs Lecturer, Teachers College-Columbia University; and the 2000 AERA Early Career Award for Programmatic Research. In 1999-2000 she was a Russell Sage Visiting Scholar. In 1995-96 she was a National Academy of Education-Spencer Foundation Post-doctoral fellow, and 1990-91 she was a Spencer Dissertation Fellow.

Ansley T. Erickson is a historian who focuses on educational inequality and urban and metropolitan history. Her first book, Making the Unequal Metropolis: School Desegregation and Its Limits (University of Chicago Press, 2016) tells the story of persistent inequality in Nashville, Tennesee's metropolitan school district during periods of segregation and desegregation. Her articles have appeared in the American Journal of Education, History of Education Quarterly, Journal of Urban History, and Teachers College Record (forthcoming).

With Professor Ernest Morrell of TC's Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Erickson leads the Educating Harlem project, a collaborative investigation into the history of education in 20th century Harlem. Educating Harlem includes an edited volume under contract with Columbia University Press, a digital history project, and youth participatory history program.

Erickson was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow in 2011-2013, and has held research fellowships from the Spencer Foundation and the Eisenhower Institute among others. She currently serves on the editorial board of the History of Education Quarterly and Theory and Research in Education, and was chair of the History of Education Society Outstanding Book Prize committee in 2015-16.

Earlier in her career, Erickson taught history and conducted ethnographic research in New York City schools and worked at two national education organizations. She also has experience in historical documentary film and public history consulting.

Dr. Christopher Emdin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science andTechnology at Teachers College, Columbia University; where he also serves as Director of Science Education at the Center for Health Equity and Urban Science Education. He is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the author of numerous books and articles, most recently For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education.

He is an alumni fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, and currently serves as Minorities in Energy Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy and the STEAM Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Emdin is a social critic, public intellectual and science advocate whose commentary on issues of race, culture, inequality and education have appeared in dozens of influential periodicals including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Detra Price-Dennis is an Assistant Professor in Elementary Inclusive Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a teacher educator, Price-Dennis focuses her work on digital literacy pedagogies that seek to create and sustain equitable learning environments for students from marginalized populations. She is interested in the sociopolitical and sociocultural aspects of literacy learning and engagement among middle childhood students, as well as teacher preparation. Her research interests also include critical perspectives on children’s and young adult literature.

Dr. Felicia Moore Mensah is Professor of Science Education and past Program Coordinator of the Science Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Appointed as Senior Advisor to the Provost for Student Affairs, Professor Mensah is serving as a liaison between administration and the student body. Professor Mensah received her doctorate in Science Education from Florida State University (May 2003) and postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Curriculum Materials in Science at Michigan State University (June 2003-July 2005). Professor Mensah’s research in science education focuses on diversity, equity, and science teacher identity as well as gender issues and teacher professional development in STEM education.

Jamila Lyiscott is a social justice education scholar, nationally renowned speaker, spoken word artist, and educational consultant. She was recently appointed as an Assistant Professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Senior Research Fellow of Teachers College, Columbia University’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME). Across these spaces, Jamila's work focuses on racial justice, community engagement, and youth activism in education through the lens of what she has termed, "Vision-Driven Justice." She has been invited to over 100 institutions throughout the nation where she works with youth, educators, and people across disciplines to inspire vision and action. Jamila is also the founder and co-director of the Cyphers For Justice (CFJ) youth, research, and advocacy program, apprenticing NYC High School youth, incarcerated youth, and educators as critical social researchers through hip-hop, spoken word, and digital literacy.

Jamila is most well know for being featured on Ted.com where her video, “3 Ways to Speak English,” was viewed over 4 million times. She has also been featured in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up,” on NPR, Huffington Post, Lexus Verses and Flow, Upworthy, The Root, and many other media outlets nationally and internationally. Her poetry and scholarly work have been published in several peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

Jamila is the recent co-grantee of a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Award, which will take her to Ghana in the Summer of 2018. She is currently preparing a book manuscript about her work within Predominantly White Institutions across the nation, helping educators to confront white privilege within and beyond the classroom. Through her community, scholastic, and artistic efforts, Jamila hopes to powerfully explore, assert, and defend the value of Black lives throughout the world.

Erica N. Walker Professor of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. An award-winning former public high school mathematics teacher from Atlanta, Georgia, she earned her doctorate in education from Harvard University. Her research focuses on the social and cultural factors as well as educational policies and practices that facilitate mathematics engagement, learning, and performance, especially for underserved students. Recognized by the Mathematical Association of America and the Association for Women in Mathematics for her scholarship and practice, she collaborates with teachers, schools, districts, organizations, and media outlets to promote mathematics excellence and equity for young people. Her work has been published in journals such as the American Education Research Journal, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Educational Leadership, and the Urban Review. Professor Walker serves on several editorial boards and is the author of two books: Building Mathematics Learning Communities: Improving Outcomes in Urban High Schools (published by Teachers College Press in 2012) and Beyond Banneker: Black Mathematicians and the Paths to Excellence, published by SUNY Press in 2014.

Limarys Caraballo is an associate professor of English education in the Department of Secondary Education and Youth Services at Queens College - CUNY, where she teaches methods courses and graduate seminars in the English education program. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College - Columbia University and a member of the Doctoral Faculty Consortium at the CUNY Graduate Center. She also co-directs Cyphers for Justice, a youth and educator development program grounded in the principles of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and multiple culturally sustaining literacies. 

In 2012, she received her doctorate from the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, where she was a General Research Fellow. She was part of the 2010-2012 Cohort of the National Council of Teachers of English Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Fellowship (NCTE-CNV).

Her research interests include students’ multiple identities and literacies, Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and teaching English in diverse sociocultural contexts. As a former English teacher, administrator, and consultant in public and private secondary schools, she especially interested in culturally sustaining and socially just literacy curricula and pedagogies throughout the educational spectrum. The key purposes of her work include complicating conversations about students of color and curriculum, reframing deficit conceptions of lower-income students of color, and advancing the theory and development of curricula that supports the academic success and multiple identity construction of minoritized students.

Dr. Mark Anthony Gooden is the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Professor in Education Leadership and Director of the Endeavor Leadership Initiative in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Within that Department, he is also Program Director of Education Leadership. His research interests include the principalship, anti-racist leadership, urban educational leadership and legal issues in education. His research has appeared in a range of outlets including American Educational Research Journal, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Review of Educational Research, Journal of School Leadership, Urban Education, Journal of Research on Leadership in Education, The Journal of Negro Education, Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, Education and Urban Society, The Sage Handbook of African-American Education and The Principal's Legal Handbook and others. Dr. Gooden served two terms as a member of Executive Committee and is Immediate Past President of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), a consortium of 100 higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders for the benefit of schools and children. Dr. Gooden has served on various committees for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and is a member of the Educational Law Association (ELA).

Before entering higher education, Dr. Gooden served as a secondary mathematics teacher and department chairperson who facilitated professional development workshops for and with teachers and educational leaders in Columbus Public Schools. He has spent 16 years in higher education developing and teaching courses in leadership, equity, law, and research methods. During that time, he has also developed, designed, and facilitated professional development courses in diversity/inclusion, leadership, and law. Dr. Gooden co-developed with Ann O'Doherty a teaching module for UCEA that helps leaders better understand how examining their beliefs, attitudes, and racial awareness can improve their ability to support diverse learners. The module is entitled Building a Community of Trust Through Racial Awareness of Self and is available gratis. Dr. Gooden also serves as Associate Editor of Urban Education and he is on the boards of the Journal of Cases of Educational Leadership and the Journal of Research on Leadership in Education.

Dr. Gooden received his B.A. in Mathematics from Albany State University. He also earned his M.Ed. in Mathematics Education, a second M.A., and a PhD in Policy and Leadership, all from The Ohio State University. Dr. Gooden has been trained as a cognitive coach and an executive coach. He is also a registered provider of multiple instruments on leadership development and cultural awareness including The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®), MBTI® Step II™ Interpretive (Leaders’) Report, and the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation–Behavior® (FIRO-B®) Assessment.

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, (Ph.D., New York University) is as an Associate Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Yolanda is a former Research Associate with the NYU Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, and has worked for Business Week, The New York Times, and New York University in Marketing and Promotion positions. Her research interests include racial literacy development in urban teacher education (with a specific focus on the education of Black and Latino males), literacy practices of Black girls, and Black female college reentry students. Yolanda’s work has appeared in several top-tier academic journals. Yolanda is co-editor of three books including (with Chance W. Lewis and Ivory A. Toldson) Teacher Education and Black Communities: Implications for Access, Equity, and Achievement (IAP). At Teachers College, she is founder and faculty sponsor of the Racial Literacy Roundtables Series where for eight years, national scholars, doctoral, and pre-service and in-service Master’s students, and young people facilitate informal conversations around race and other issues involving diversity and teacher education for the Teachers College/Columbia University community. She is also the co-founder of the Teachers College Civic Participation Project which concerns itself with the educational well-being of young people involved with the juvenile justice and foster care systems in New York. Yolanda and two of her students appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright” (2016), a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou.