2021 Spring Speakers
Dr. Na’ilah Suad Nasir
March 4, 2021
Na’ilah Suad Nasir is the sixth President of the Spencer Foundation, which funds education research nationally. She has held a faculty appointment in Education and African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley where she also served as the chair of African American Studies, then later as the Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion. She also served on the Faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Education from 2000 to 2008.
Dr. Darrick Smith
April 1, 2021
Dr. Darrick Smith is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of San Francisco and Co-Director of the School of Education’s new Transformative School Leadership (TSL) program. His research interests are culturally responsive discipline practices; critical pedagogy; transformative school leadership, and social justice schooling. Dr. Smith is the founder and former Director of the TryUMF (pronounced "triumph") program in Oakland, CA and formerly served as the Co-Director/Principal of the June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco.
Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz
May 6, 2021
Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an award-winning associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students.