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Dena Simmons, Ed.D., is a lifelong activist, educator and student of life. A native of the Bronx, New York, Dena grew up in a one-bedroom apartment with her two sisters and immigrant mother. There, Dena learned and lived the violence of injustice and inequity and decided to dedicate her life to educating and empowering others. As the director of implementation at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, she works with schools to use the power of emotions to create a more effective and compassionate society. Prior to her work at the Center, Dena served as an educator, teacher educator

Gorski is an associate professor of Integrative Studies and a Research Fellow in the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, where he teaches courses such as Social Justice Education; Poverty, Wealth and Inequality in the US; S ocial Justice Consciousness and Personal Transformation; School through Students’ Eyes; and Animal Rights and Human Education. His recent books include Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty; The Big Lies of School Reform (with Kristien Zenkov); Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education (with Seema Pothini), and T he Poverty

Eileen Mattingly has been a classroom teacher (middle school through college) in the Philippines, Massachusetts, New York and Maryland for over 30 years. She has a B.A. in International Studies from Georgetown University, M.A. degrees from St. John’s University and the Johns Hopkins University. Eileen has been a curriculum consultant for PBS, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Center for Learning. She served as Director of World Wise Schools, the National Peace Corps’ K-12 program on cross-cultural education, and was founding principal of an independent high school focusing on

Susan is a program director at Primary Source, a global education nonprofit based in Massachusetts that develops curriculum resources and professional learning opportunities for K–12 schools. Zeiger has authored books and articles, including Entangling Alliances: Foreign War Brides and American Soldiers in the Twentieth Century.

Chris Martin is a teaching-writer at Unrestricted Interest and has worked with unconventional students, ASD students and twice-exceptional students for over a decade, specializing in creative writing and executive function. He earned his BA in English at Carleton College; his MA in Poetry, Performance, and Education from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study; and his MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His first collection of poems, American Music (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), was selected by C. D. Wright for the Hayden Carruth Prize. Becoming Weather, his

Anna is the assistant director and chief of staff at St. Norbert College’s Cassandra Voss Center (CVC), which focuses on transformation through initiatives related to race, class, gender and identity. Czarnik-Neimeyer grew up living and working at camps for 22 years before becoming the national events coordinator at Holden Village, an ecumenical learning and retreat center in the Cascade Mountains. In addition to her CVC work, Anna writes, facilitates and thinks about white anti-racism and allyship, millennial Christianity, feminist pedagogy, intersectional identity and vocation in intentional

Dr. Gary Wellbrock is an early elementary educator at a dual-language (American Sign Language and English) school in New York City. He teaches deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing children from diverse backgrounds. He holds a master's degree from Columbia University Teachers College and later became a licensed reading specialist due, in part, to his work with the Hello Friend Foundation. Gary earned his doctoral degree from the Language, Literacy and Learning program at Fordham University.

Jeffrey is a seventh-grade English teacher at West Virginia’s DuPont Middle School. He holds certifications for English and social studies and often blends the two subjects in his classroom. In addition to teaching, he coaches track and field at DuPont; from time to time he uses poetry and history lessons to motivate his team. Webb has had pieces published in Vandalia, Red Mud Review, Pikeville Review and The Charleston Anvil.

Hoyt is the deputy director for Program Management & Operations at Learning for Justice. Before joining LFJ, he taught reading and social studies at a nationally recognized leadership elementary magnet school. He has extensive experience working with a statewide nonprofit designing and facilitating leadership and social justice experiential programming for K-12 students and staff. He enjoys exploring the intersection of equity and inclusion work with his passion for yoga and meditation.

Kathleen is professor emerita of women’s studies at San Diego State University and visiting research fellow at University of California, Davis, where she directs a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar for schoolteachers on the political theory of Hannah Arendt. She has been active in the field of women and politics and feminist theory since 1975, publishing widely on feminism and political theory in both scholarly and popular journals. Jones’ latest book, Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt (Thinking Women Books, 2013), explores Arendt’s influence in her life .