Speakers
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bettina Love
Dr. Bettina Love is a nationally respected abolitionist educator and a powerful advocate for education reform. She is a co-founder of Abolitionist Teaching Network, a Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at Harvard University, and the Athletic Association Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Love is the renowned author of We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South
Don’t miss her unforgettable message on Abolitionist Teaching and Anti-Racism!
Session Facilitators and Panelists
Julia Aguirre
Julia Aguirre is Faculty Director of the Teacher Certification Programs and a Professor in the School of Education at UW Tacoma. She is a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on equity-centric approaches to mathematics education. Among her many publications, she is best known for her book The Impact of Identity in K-8 Mathematics: Rethinking Equity-Based Practices (2013- The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). She holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of California Berkeley.
Karina Bauza-Schuler
Karina’s life mission is to close the academic opportunity gap experienced by students in traditionally marginalized communities. Her legacy includes recruiting and retaining Teachers of Color and bearing witness to love and justice. She graduated with honors from Tacoma Community College with her Associates, and University of Washington with a bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Education and is currently working on completing her IIRP Certification and her doctorate. Her unwavering passion for equity in public school is tangible and transformational. With her Restorative Practice framework, she provides attainable steps to reunify all members of a learning community, to restore relationships and to reimagine together our learning communities. Her driving desire is to work in partnership with principals, teachers, students, and families on co-creating a shared understanding of tools needed for learning success.
Marisa Bier
Marisa is the Founding Director of the Seattle Teacher Residency. Prior to joining the Alliance for Education, she was Coordinator of the Secondary Teacher Education Program at the University of Washington. In overseeing all aspects of the program, she particularly values ensuring cohesiveness between program curriculum and school practicum experiences, building partnerships with schools, communities, and organizations, and facilitating the work of educator development. Marisa brings more than 25 years of experience in education to the Alliance, beginning her career as a special education teacher of Pre-K through 12th grade. While serving in a leadership role as a site coordinator of her school’s university partnership, Marisa developed an interest in teacher education and the role practitioners play in supporting new teacher development. She came to Seattle to pursue her Doctorate in Education at the University of Washington, which she received in 2009. There, her studies focused on teacher learning across a continuum from novice to veteran, with a particular interest in learning as it is negotiated within communities of practice.
Mary Beth Canty
Mary Beth (she/her) has been an educator in the Seattle area for over 20 years. Currently she is the Curriculum & Induction Manager at the Seattle Teacher Residency. Prior to joining the team at STR, she worked at the University of Washington in the Teacher Preparation Programs. Mary Beth’s focus has been and continues to be, centering BIPOC voices in education.
Ainsley Carry
Ainsley Carry is a three-time graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned his Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate in Higher Education Administration. He also earned Masters degrees in Business Administration and Studies in Law from Auburn University and the University of Southern California, respectively. Carry’s career includes vice presidencies at Auburn University, the University of Southern California (2013–2019), and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2019–present). In his second book, Washington Next? Disputed Monuments, Honorees, and Symbols on Campus, Carry tackles a complicated leadership challenge — confronting memorial landscapes that marginalize students of color. Providing an environment where all students thrive is an ethical responsibility for us all. School memorials are deeply rooted in an inescapable American history that requires us to grapple with the truth.
Adrianna Caton
Adrianna Caton is a STEMbyTAF Transformation Coach based in Seattle. As a former secondary English language arts teacher, she has taught on both the East and West Coast. Adrianna is passionate about social justice education, travel as education, education policy, and project-based learning. Committed to fostering students' abilities as change agents, she specializes in using an interdisciplinary approach to create inquiry-based units of study that promote critical thinking. She has presented at numerous national conferences including the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention. Adrianna holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Loyola University Maryland and is dedicated to transforming our nation’s education system to make it equitable and sustainable for students and teachers.
Rachel Endo
Rachel Endo is Founding Dean and a Professor in the School of Education at UW Tacoma. She is a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on critical approaches to literacy education and urban education. Among her many publications, she is best known for her award-winning book The Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s: Literature for the High School Classroom (2018- The National Council of Teachers of English). She holds a PhD in Language & Literacy Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
David Goldenkranz
After spending a decade in education working with undeserved youth and BIPOC communities, David transitioned into a full-time career as a DEI facilitator, coach, and consultant, working to eliminate structural, institutional, and systemic barriers within organizations. David currently serves as the Ally Engagement Program Manager at the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) where he is responsible for supporting and facilitating learning opportunities for white leaders in education to embrace antiracist and culturally responsive practices in their school environments. David believes in supporting others to explore the subtle and insidious ways in which structural racism, toxic patriarchy, and colonial culture impact our ability to experience compassion, empathy, and humility – ultimately stunting our growth, as well as hindering our ability to be a part of a more collective society.
Maribel Valdez Gonzalez
Maribel Valdez Gonzalez is an Indigenous Xicana STEM/PBL Coach, former classroom teacher, and consultant. She resides in occupied Duwamish territory, also known as Seattle, WA. She is from occupied Somi Se’k land, also known as San Antonio, TX. In her 10 years as an antiracist educator, Maribel has been honored to work with youth and adults to decolonize and humanize pedagogical practices and belief systems in classrooms and beyond. Maribel's goal is to create academically engaging learning experiences through a culturally sustaining environment that fosters empowerment, healing, and radical kindness. Committed to creating systems centered on equity and justice, she is a member of the Antiracist Arts Education Task Force for Visual & Performing Arts in Seattle Public Schools.
Sylvia Hadnot
Sylvia is a multicultural educator, artist, systems thinker, thoughtful collaborator, a do-er and a unique and effective leader. With a Master's in Education focused on Anti-Racist and Urban Environmental Education, Sylvia brings both traditional academic background and real-world experience into their work. Perpetually interested in growth and freedom, Sylvia has strived to be an educator since age 5. With several years of classroom teaching, community organizing, and organizational leadership experience, Sylvia brings a wide variety of knowledge, skills, and talents to her work with diverse clients and students of a broad range of ages. Sylvia is passionate about supporting youth and adults with gaining the skills, tools and mindsets we need to build more liberated and powerful individuals and communities.
Jill R. Heiney-Smith
Jill is the director and chair of graduate teacher education at Seattle Pacific University. She has been a teacher educator for close to twenty years, including 10 years at the University of Washington. She considers herself a “teacher’s teacher” who is committed to humanizing teacher preparation and making the profession more sustainable for educators of color in particular. Her current research explores the ways that university-based teacher prep programs can promote a sense of belonging and care for historically underserved students. Jill stands in opposition to her employer’s discriminatory hiring policies regarding LGBTQ+ applicants. She is fighting for her students and their right to an equitable education.
Julia Ismael
Julia Ismael is the Founder and Head Architect of Aspirations at The Equity Consortium where she organizes, and learns from, over 150 equity advocates. At the Consortium, she functions as the creative conductor of the Equity Factors Assessment process. Julia also serves as the Chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, advising the Mayor and City Council on matters of human and civil rights. Yet. She is most proud of her title of Mother, and has raised all three children in Seattle, a home she's called since 1979. Julia is practicing calling herself an artist again, and is currently learning kiswahili so she can also call herself a "travel witch" and "artist" in as many languages as possible.
Lindsey J. Kaiser
Lindsey spent 10-years in public education as a teacher, instructional coach, and an administrator. I’ve worked in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and in Texas. Most recently, I moved to Seattle to embark on a new journey as a doctoral student at the University of Washington. My research is focused on anti-racist leadership and community partnerships.
Saara Kamal
Saara is passionate about work that aims to heal the collective traumas of BIPOC populations and center the needs, experiences and stories of those populations that have been historically overlooked, misrepresented, erased and not, celebrated, affirmed and cherished. Her work currently centers on disrupting systems that don’t support and prioritize the experiences, growth and development of teachers and leaders of color. And, through intentional practice and engagement in developing better antiracist behaviors, spirit and understanding, aims to shift the culture of education. Saara has predominantly taught grades 10-12 and adult learners. She currently serves as the Program Manager for the Martinez Fellowship Program at TAF.
Joan King
Joan King is a United States veteran and is a former equity leader for Issaquah School District and former diversity representative for the Issaquah Education Association. She is obtaining her Doctorate in Education for Curriculum and Instruction from Liberty University. Currently, she is providing Professional Development to educators looking to further their understanding of Asian American communities.
Mark Perry
Mark Perry came of age during the racial and social justice movements of the late 1960s. His work as an organizer and activist lead to his incarceration in California. He paroled from San Quentin Prison in 1979 to Los Angeles. In 1986, he moved to Chicago where he began working at a high school that served students who had dropped out or pushed out of school. His students motived him to earn his BA in Criminal Justice and Alternative Education at the age of 40. He went on to earn an M.Ed. and Ph.D. in education at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is the author of “Walking the Color Line: The Art and Practice of Anti-Racist Teaching.” He recently retired as a teacher and principal of Nova High School in the Seattle Public Schools.
Elizabeth Rangel
Elizabeth Rangel is an Academic Advisor/Recruitment & Retention Specialist in the School of Education at UW Tacoma. Her areas of scholarly interest are in DEI leadership, especially in higher education. She is currently completing her MEd in Higher Education Leadership with a focus in DEI from Central Washington University.
Renee Shank
Renee Shank has a Ph.D. in multicultural and multilingual education from the University of Washington. She is currently the coordinator for the BECA (Bilingual Educators CApacity) program. As program coordinator, Renee teaches several courses in second language acquisition, bilingual methods for multilingual classrooms, and supports teachers who are pursuing teacher certification in dual language classrooms.
Emijah Smith
Emijah is the founder of Colorful Communities LLC, an advocacy organization focused on family advocacy, justice reform, education advocacy and more. Her organization provides support services to families, including incarcerated individuals and their families. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the UW Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. She invests her time towards racial justice while fighting against racism and anti-blackness. She holds various leadership roles at many policy tables. Emijah is most proud of her role as a mother to her beautiful children and grandmother to her “Beauty Baby.”
Alejandra Soria
Alejandra is a recent Washington transplant. She is passionate about being in community with other educators committed to creating spaces and experiences where BIPOC community members thrive. She began her teaching career as a Teach for America Corps member on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi before teaching and supporting new teachers in Stockton, California the past 6 years. In her current role as a Transformation Coach with Technology Access Foundation, she supports teachers in Tacoma in implementing equitable practices through project-based learning.
Yutaka Tamura
Yutaka Tamura is the founding Executive Director of nXu, a non-profit initiative that catalyzes youth and adults to develop their purpose, invest in their future, and live thriving lives. Yutaka also founded and led Excel Academy Charter Schools, a nationally recognized network of public charter schools based in Boston, Massachusetts. After launching Excel and before returning to the organization, Yutaka served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Advisor for Relay Graduate School of Education. Yutaka is also a Co-Founder of UP Education Network, an organization focused on school transformation, and served on UP’s board during its founding years. Yutaka spent the first several years of his career as a management consultant atThe Parthenon Group, a strategy consulting firm. Yutaka earned his B.A., magna cumlaude, from Amherst College, and earned his MAT with distinction from Relay Graduate School of Education.
Adrianna Taylor
Adrianna Taylor recently earned her BA in Political Science from the University of Washington. She attended Seattle Public Schools and earned her GED will serving time in the King County Jail. Later, she was reintroduced to education through the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (F.E.P.P.S.) while incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). She is a passionate advocate for higher education in prison as a pathway in support of empowering students and dismantling the school to prison pipeline.
Christina Taylor
Christina Taylor is a descendent of the Djola people of Guinea Bisssau, tobacco sharecroppers and rice cultivators of the Carolinas. She roots her work in liberatory practices and skilled communication. She has over a decade of experience in education working with diverse people and organizations in creating accessible programming with a deep passion for education rooted in liberation, equity, and empowerment. She joined TAF as Director for the Network for EdWork after a tenure at a local independent school educating 7th - 12th graders and work at Seattle Central College creating global leadership programming and cultural competency trainings. She holds a master's degree in African American studies from Georgia State University and honors the scholar activists who shaped her intellectually, Dr. Charles E. Jones, Dr. Akinyele Umoja, Dr. Sarita Jones, Dr. Jonathan Gayles, Dr. Cora Presley, and the late Dr. Perry Hall.
K.O. Wilson
K.O. is an all but dissertation Doctoral of Educational Leadership candidate (Fostering Supportive Communities for BIPOCs: The impact of targeted Student Support Services for BIPOCs at Predominately White Institutions) from the University of Washington, Tacoma. K.O. is a first-generation college graduate and master's recipient who graduated from Birmingham Southern College with a B.S. in Economics and Math and earned an M.S. in Educational Policy from University of Washington, Seattle. K.O.'s identity and experiences influence his commitment to behavioral economics and critical race research. During the past couple years, K.O. has worked in the Seattle community in non-profits, Seattle Public Schools, King County Housing Authority, and an Academic Counselor at University of Washington, Seattle Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D).
Alan Wong
Alan Wong is a lifelong Seattleite who has dedicated his life to helping youth, educators, and communities to grow. Over the last twenty years, he has worked as a lead facilitator and trainer with innovative youth development organizations as well as with his own training company, Alan Wong: Facilitation and Training. Alan also helps educational leaders work towards broader systems change and address unjust institutional structures in ways that are both honest and generative. Growing up as part of a multi-racial family in South Seattle, Alan has been committed to working toward equity and bringing diverse cultures and communities together. His Chinese name, 平 “Peng,” means “peace” and “balance” – qualities he strives to embody himself and share with the communities he serves. In his spare time, Alan enjoys writing poetry, making music, practicing meditation, playing basketball, and cooking creative cuisine.
Eugene Youngblood
Eugene Youngblood was arrested in 1991 at the age of 18. He was sentenced to serve his life in prison. Through his work and transformative journey while incarcerated and the support of the Seattle Clemency Project, the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board unanimously voted to recommend release stating his personal transformation and work with others while incarcerated was “extraordinary.” He was released in March 2021, nearly 30 years after his arrest. While incarcerated at the Monroe Correctional Complex, he helped lead and facilitate the monthly Friday night meetings where educators came into the prison to meet with the Black Prisoners Caucus. Currently, he works in the community doing anti-violence and transformative justice work with young people involved in the criminal legal system.
