Search

For the last 12 years, Michelle Garcia has been an educator and policy advisor on issues of social justice and civil rights. In Boston, as Associate Regional Director at the New England Office of the Anti-Defamation League, she worked on anti-bias education and municipal anti-hate programs. Michelle began her career designing and implementing classroom-based interventions for underserved high school students in Southern California, after which she spent five years with the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission as a Policy Advisor specializing in youth policy and programs. Over the

Kris D. Gutiérrez, Professor in the School of Education, is the inaugural recipient of the University of Colorado at Boulder Provost’s Chair. Gutiérrez, renowned for her groundbreaking research in language, literacy, and human development, joined the CU faculty this year. Prior to accepting a professorship at the School of Education, Gutiérrez was a Professor of Social Research Methodology in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also served as Director of the Education Studies Minor and Director of the Center for the

Maia Ferdman (she/her) is the staff director of the UCLA Dialogue Across Difference Initiative and deputy director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute. She is also the founder of Bridges Intergroup Relations Consulting, a firm that supports organizations and communities to build vibrant spaces of belonging – celebrating our complex identities, proactively exploring our differences, and fostering resilient relationships between groups. Maia has worked with and consulted for agencies and organizations including the California State Water Boards, the City of Los Angeles, Pepperdine University

Cathery Yeh (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University. She has been in education for over 20 years, beginning her tenure in dual-language classrooms in Los Angeles and abroad in China, Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. As a classroom teacher, Cathery visited over 300 student homes and integrated students’ lived experiences, knowledge and identities into the curriculum. Cathery’s research centers on critical mathematics education, humanizing practices, ethnic studies, and social justice teaching and learning. She is the co-author of the