H. Richard Milner IV (also known as Rich) is Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education and the Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. Distinguished Leadership Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. He has courtesy appointments in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations and the Department of Sociology. Professor Milner is the founding Director of the Initiative for Race Research and Justice at Vanderbilt. A researcher, scholar, and teacher, Dr. Milner is President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the largest educational research organization in the world. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of AERA. Dr. Milner has published more than 100 scholarly journal articles and book chapters, and he has published seven books, two of which are bestsellers. His work has been cited or featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Atlantic. Dr. Milner has taught high school Language Arts, Developmental Reading in community college, and on the faculty at several universities.

Heather B. Cunningham is Assistant Professor of Education at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There, she teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in teacher education, and shares her passion for helping new teachers understand how their cultural beliefs and values shape both teaching practices and student experiences. A classroom teacher for thirteen years, she is licensed in the areas of Social Studies and English as a Second Language (ESL) / Bilingual Education. Her first teaching position was serving as an ESL teacher with kindergarten and middle school students at the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos home for children in rural Honduras. After that, she taught bilingual Social Studies to immigrant students at Roosevelt Senior High School in Washington, DC and then joined the founding team of City Charter High School, a nationally-ranked school in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. At City High, Heather team-taught social studies as part of a two-person “Cultural Literacy” team. After her promotion to the position of master teacher, she continued to teach and also served as a coach for other teachers at the school.

Heather’s research and writing focus on preparing teachers to support students in urban spaces. This includes studying the roles that race, ethnicity, poverty, and language play in the K-12 classroom, and investigating what constitutes “effective teaching” in urban spaces. She enjoys designing and delivering professional development for both in-service teachers as well as university faculty on these topics. Heather also has a strong interest in the relationship between education, culture, and context on a global scale. In addition to her Ph.D. in Instruction and Learning from the University of Pittsburgh, she holds a Master of Arts degree in International Training and Education from American University and has worked on education projects in the countries of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Malawi.

Dr. Lori Delale-O’Connor is an assistant professor of urban education at the University of Pittsburgh. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University where she was a certificate fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences—a pre-doctoral training program funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Delale-O'Connor also holds an M.Ed. in secondary education from Boston College where she was a Donovan Urban Scholar and taught secondary social studies in the Boston Public Schools. Dr. Delale-O'Connor's work has received support from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Her scholarly research has appeared in publications including Teachers College Record, Equity and Excellence in Education, Education and Urban Society, and Theory into Practice. Dr. Delale-O’Connor teaches courses to undergraduate and graduate students planning to become teachers in urban schools, as well as to students who want to work in and with urban schools in other ways, including out-of-school time and policy. In addition, she has taught courses on the social contexts of education, as well as the history of and current practice in education reform. Her current teaching, research, and policy interests focus on the social contexts of education with a focus on caregiver and community engagement. Dr. Delale-O’Connor previously worked as an evaluator to both in and out-of-school time programs.

Dr. Erika Gold Kestenberg is the Associate Director of Educator Development and Practice for the Center for Urban Education and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kestenberg’s degrees include a PhD in Education with a multidisciplinary self-designed focus on Social Justice, a Master’s and Teaching Certificate in Secondary Education Social Studies and a dual Bachelor’s in Political Science and History with a minor in Psychology. She also has a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion as well as extensive training in Transformative Intergroup Dialogues and Conflict Mediation, which inform her work. Dr. Kestenberg received a Program Innovation Award and has been recognized twice by the city of Pittsburgh’s City-Council for her service learning work with youth across the city.

Dr. Kestenberg designed a Certificate in Urban Education program as well as develops and manages the Urban Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate students interested in becoming teachers in urban schools and in higher education. Her courses include Identity, Power and Privilege, Culturally Relevant and Responsive Teaching, Relationship Building with Students, Families and Communities, Social Foundations of Education, Urban Scholars Seminars, and Becoming a Change Agent, all with a focus on urban contexts grounded in equity and justice. She also trains and coaches in-service educators and leaders around a variety of equity based issues through multiple methods and approaches. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Kestenberg was a teacher, trainer, advocate, and administrator in traditional and non-traditional urban educational and non-profit spaces in the United States and Israel. In those spaces, she taught social studies, English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, Service Learning and Cross-Cultural Communication.

At the core, Dr. Kestenberg is a critically conscious, compassionate and passionate, social justice educator advocate who honors our humanity and strives to embrace courageous imperfection, all anchored in love.