Marceline DuBose

Lead Equity Specialist

Marceline has 20 years of experience in public education as a high school social studies educator, state and federal policy administrator, professional development leader, strategic planning consultant, and curriculum writer. Her primary focus is equity leadership development and strategic planning, working with districts to improve systems for creating equitable schools and classrooms. Marceline also provides professional development to thousands of school professionals. She has served as adjunct faculty at Hamline University, Macalester College, and St. Mary’s University. She holds a BA in Economics from Macalester College and an Ed.M. in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University as a Rockefeller Brothers Teaching Fellow. Also a certified yoga instructor, Marceline incorporates historical and policy perspectives, systems change theory, adult learning theory, critical reflection, and key approaches from yoga philosophy as she works toward individual, organizational and societal change that supports the full potential of all learners.

Paul Gorski

Founder & Lead Equity Specialist

Paul is the founder of the Equity Literacy Institute and EdChange. He has more than 20 years of experience helping educators, nonprofit workers, and others strengthen their equity efforts. He has worked with educators in 48 states and a dozen countries. Paul has published more than 70 articles and has written, co-written, or co-edited twelve books on various aspects of educational equity including Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap and Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education(with Seema Pothini). He is the author of the Multicultural Pavilion, an online compendium of free resources for educators. Paul earned a PhD in Educational Evaluation at the University of Virginia. He was a teacher educator at several universities for 15 years. He is also a published poet, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and the biggest fan of Buster, his cat. 

Haseena Hamzawala

Lead Equity Specialist

Haseena Hamzawala has been an educator for over 20 years in a number of roles, including teaching English Literature at public and private high schools, designing curricula for humanities and social justice programs, facilitating antiracism workshops with Penumbra Theater, teaching educators and undergraduate students as a Peace Corps volunteer, serving as a GED program facilitator with adjudicated youth, and serving as a district-wide equity specialist. She holds a BA in English Literature with minors in Women’s Studies and South East Asian Language and Culture from the University of Minnesota, a teaching certification in 5-12 English Education, an M.Ed in English Education, and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Educational Equity and Social Justice. She held a chair in the humanities at her former school where she taught for 13 years. Haseena especially loves working with high school students and teachers, and focuses her energy on using deep equity and racial justice lenses to explore problem solving and intersections of absent and institutionally sanctioned narratives. Haseena currently lives in Minneapolis and facilitates discussions on Critical Race Theory and anti-oppressive curriculum development.

Taharee Jackson

Lead Equity Specialist

Dr. Jackson earned a magna cum laude B.A. from Harvard University in Psychology and Spanish, a Master of Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. Her areas of expertise include teacher education, pedagogies for diversity and equity, inclusive schooling practices and policies, and urban education reform.  Taharee is particularly interested in how members of “privileged” groups become advocates and allies for others, and the most salient factors that influence the beliefs, practices, and retention of deeply committed urban teachers.  She served as Assistant Professor of Minority and Urban Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her racial equity work for both teachers and students has been published in Race, Ethnicity, and Education; The Poverty and Education Reader; Racism Review; and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.  Watch for her forthcoming book, A Different Way to be White:  Becoming Antiracist Teachers and Teacher Educators. Most recently, she wrote "COVID-19 and Videoclassism.”

Seema Pothini

Lead Equity Specialist

Seema's passion for creating equitable classrooms and schools drives her commitment as an advocate for underserved youth. Her extensive experience improving student success in historically underperforming schools began when she taught in Houston. She was elected Teacher of the Year in her region and appointed to the superintendent's committee to address the opportunity gap. In addition to teaching, she has worked as a K-12 cultural integration specialist and consultant, improving student outcomes by creating family, school, and community partnerships and providing staff development. Seema served as board president for Avenues for Homeless Youth and currently serves as president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education. She is also the author of Case Studies for Equity and Social Justice Education (with Paul Gorski).

Katy Swalwell

Lead Equity Specialist

Katy's expertise revolves around teacher activism and social justice education with a special focus on race and class issues within social studies teaching and learning. She is the author of Educating Activist Allies: Social Justice Pedagogy with the Suburban and Urban Elite, as well as several articles in magazines and journals like Teaching Tolerance and Rethinking Schools. Before becoming a teacher educator, Katy taught social studies at a public high school in Minnesota. She has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, George Mason University, and the University of Maryland--College Park. Katy currently teaches at Iowa State University.