Call Me MISTER®

I am a native of New Rochelle, NY and attended Oberlin College for my undergraduate degree, where I majored in Black Studies and Communications. As an Oberlin student, I gained my initial experiences in education as an Upward Bound Teacher/Counselor. While I did not major in education, my experiences working with children from underserved backgrounds ignited my passion for teaching and inspired me to pursue a career in education. Upon graduation, I entered an alternative teacher certification program in Baltimore, MD, and gained a position teaching middle school special education in the city’s public school system. While teaching, I earned a Master of Science degree in Special Education from Coppin State University. I then transitioned into higher education and served as a content literacy professional development provider for teachers through the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Several years later, I moved with my family to southern California and taught students with mild to moderate disabilities in Los Angeles County. I returned to higher education at UCLA, where I taught graduate level teacher education courses and provided literacy-based coaching and professional development for teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After five years in California, I came back east and returned to the K-12 classroom as a special education-inclusion teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System. While there, I attended UNC Charlotte and earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction-Urban Education in 2015. Two years later, I began teaching in the College of Education and supervising interns at Georgia Southern University. My primary research interests center on culturally responsive educator preparation and arts education and African American male academic identity development.