Advisory Board
A team of experts is contributing their knowledge to the development of this curriculum.
Dr. María Paula Ghiso is Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarship investigates literacy in multilingual and transnational contexts, research partnerships, and community-based research methodologies. She has published in venues such as Teachers College Record, Research in the Teaching of English, Language Arts, Harvard Educational Review, Urban Education, and Journal of Literacy Research and is editor of the Language and Literacy Series from Teachers College Press. María Paula is the co-author of Partnering with immigrant communities: Action through literacy (Teachers College Press), which received the Edward Fry Book Award from the Literacy Research Association and the David H. Russell Research Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. María Paula was honored with the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy for the TC Record article “The Laundromat as transnational local: Young children’s literacies of interdependence.” She is the lead author of Methods for community-based research: Advancing educational justice and epistemic rights, which lays out how to carry out partnership research in education led by community priorities. Her collective work with the Communities Advancing Research in Education (CARE) Initiative in Philadelphia, on which this book is based, received the 2023 Henry T. Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education from AERA (the American Educational Research Association).
Dr. María Paula Ghiso is Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarship investigates literacy in multilingual and transnational contexts, research partnerships, and community-based research methodologies. She has published in venues such as Teachers College Record, Research in the Teaching of English, Language Arts, Harvard Educational Review, Urban Education, and Journal of Literacy Research and is editor of the Language and Literacy Series from Teachers College Press. María Paula is the co-author of Partnering with immigrant communities: Action through literacy (Teachers College Press), which received the Edward Fry Book Award from the Literacy Research Association and the David H. Russell Research Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. María Paula was honored with the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy for the TC Record article “The Laundromat as transnational local: Young children’s literacies of interdependence.” She is the lead author of Methods for community-based research: Advancing educational justice and epistemic rights, which lays out how to carry out partnership research in education led by community priorities. Her collective work with the Communities Advancing Research in Education (CARE) Initiative in Philadelphia, on which this book is based, received the 2023 Henry T. Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education from AERA (the American Educational Research Association).
John A. Gutiérrez, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY. His research focuses on the history of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and its diasporas in the United States. He is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Amber Charter Schools, the first Latino-led charter school network in New York State.
John A. Gutiérrez, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY. His research focuses on the history of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and its diasporas in the United States. He is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Amber Charter Schools, the first Latino-led charter school network in New York State.
María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo is a Professor in the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis Department & the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU, with a BA in the English major from Yale University, and a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. Her book, Indian Given: Racial Geographies across Mexico and the United States (Duke UP 2016), received the 2019 Casa de Las Americans Literary Prize in Latino Studies; the 2017 ASA John Hope Franklin Book Prize; and the 2017 NACCS Book Award. The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development (Duke UP 2003) is still her personal favorite. With thirty articles, in English and Spanish, on revolution, subaltern politics, indigenous peoples, racial formation, migration, narco-economies, and Latin American and Latinx cultural studies. She has served as an elected officer in the American Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Latina/s Studies Association, and the Modern Language Association. A board member of the Coalición Mexicana, an immigrants' rights organization, she is also an expert witness for Central American asylum cases.
María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo is a Professor in the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis Department & the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU, with a BA in the English major from Yale University, and a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. Her book, Indian Given: Racial Geographies across Mexico and the United States (Duke UP 2016), received the 2019 Casa de Las Americans Literary Prize in Latino Studies; the 2017 ASA John Hope Franklin Book Prize; and the 2017 NACCS Book Award. The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development (Duke UP 2003) is still her personal favorite. With thirty articles, in English and Spanish, on revolution, subaltern politics, indigenous peoples, racial formation, migration, narco-economies, and Latin American and Latinx cultural studies. She has served as an elected officer in the American Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Latina/s Studies Association, and the Modern Language Association. A board member of the Coalición Mexicana, an immigrants' rights organization, she is also an expert witness for Central American asylum cases.
Dr. Soribel Genao is a seasoned educator, researcher, and advocate dedicated to advancing equity, inclusion, and social impact across various sectors. With extensive experience in educational leadership, evaluation, and organizational development, Soribel has built a career centered on fostering authentic, purpose-driven work cultures that emphasize belonging and collective growth.
Throughout her career, she has championed culturally responsive leadership, utilizing her expertise to create innovative evaluation frameworks and develop impactful strategies that address systemic inequities, particularly in education and social justice. Soribel’s work is distinguished by her commitment to embedding a racial equity lens, ensuring that all voices are valued and represented in decision-making processes. Her passion for meaningful engagement, coupled with her deep understanding of evaluation methodologies, has made her a respected voice in the fields of education, social impact, and DEIBA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Access).
She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration, with a focus on Education Policy and studied abroad in South Africa, which has underpinned her work across academic and consulting roles. Soribel holds a Master of Arts in Urban Affairs & Planning from CUNY Hunter College and a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from St. John’s University, supplemented by international study in Ghana.
Dr. Soribel Genao is a seasoned educator, researcher, and advocate dedicated to advancing equity, inclusion, and social impact across various sectors. With extensive experience in educational leadership, evaluation, and organizational development, Soribel has built a career centered on fostering authentic, purpose-driven work cultures that emphasize belonging and collective growth.
Throughout her career, she has championed culturally responsive leadership, utilizing her expertise to create innovative evaluation frameworks and develop impactful strategies that address systemic inequities, particularly in education and social justice. Soribel’s work is distinguished by her commitment to embedding a racial equity lens, ensuring that all voices are valued and represented in decision-making processes. Her passion for meaningful engagement, coupled with her deep understanding of evaluation methodologies, has made her a respected voice in the fields of education, social impact, and DEIBA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Access).
She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration, with a focus on Education Policy and studied abroad in South Africa, which has underpinned her work across academic and consulting roles. Soribel holds a Master of Arts in Urban Affairs & Planning from CUNY Hunter College and a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from St. John’s University, supplemented by international study in Ghana.
Dr. Rosa Rivera-McCutchen is currently a Professor of Administration & Supervision at CUNY Hunter College and is a faculty affiliate in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Urban Education PhD program and the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. She began her career as a Bronx high school teacher, before earning her doctorate in Teaching and Learning at New York University. Dr. Rivera-McCutchen’s research has appeared in highly respected journals, including Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Press, Urban Education, and the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, and she is the author of Radical Care: Leading for Justice in Urban Schools, which focuses on urban school leaders who enact “radical care” by centering anti-racism and equity in their leadership practice. She has been an invited speaker, and workshop and professional development facilitator on the topic of radical care to a broad range of audiences across the United States, including school board and community members, school and district-level educators, and students and faculty members working and learning in higher education. Dr. Rivera-McCutchen is a first-generation college graduate, and her research, teaching and activism are deeply informed by her experiences as a former student and educator in NYC public schools, as well as by the public-school experiences of her three Afro-Latinx children.
Dr. Rosa Rivera-McCutchen is currently a Professor of Administration & Supervision at CUNY Hunter College and is a faculty affiliate in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Urban Education PhD program and the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. She began her career as a Bronx high school teacher, before earning her doctorate in Teaching and Learning at New York University. Dr. Rivera-McCutchen’s research has appeared in highly respected journals, including Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Press, Urban Education, and the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, and she is the author of Radical Care: Leading for Justice in Urban Schools, which focuses on urban school leaders who enact “radical care” by centering anti-racism and equity in their leadership practice. She has been an invited speaker, and workshop and professional development facilitator on the topic of radical care to a broad range of audiences across the United States, including school board and community members, school and district-level educators, and students and faculty members working and learning in higher education. Dr. Rivera-McCutchen is a first-generation college graduate, and her research, teaching and activism are deeply informed by her experiences as a former student and educator in NYC public schools, as well as by the public-school experiences of her three Afro-Latinx children.