Shaping tomorrow’s educational leaders

Q:    What was the evolution of your career trajectory that led you to the Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch School of Education and Human Development?

My original career plan was to become an education leader. I went to graduate school, where I learned that I loved engaging in research. After grad school, I had some questions that were still unanswered, like how do we take what we know about school leadership, instruction, and supporting immigrant families and communities and create adaptable, context-sensitive practices? So I decided to pursue an academic career. I began teaching at Nativity Prep in Boston, a school that serves low-income students and a lot of immigrant families. There, I became committed to and interested in how you set up schools that build on the communities and cultures that they serve by best utilizing assets at their disposal. That experience was really foundational, both in terms of introducing me to a Jesuit philosophy of education as well as helping me get a handle on which aspect of justice I was particularly interested in. Ultimately, I honed in on how to help schools fight for racial justice and how to assist schools in becoming places of support for students who are typically marginalized by society.

Q:    How does your role help students?

Broadly speaking, one career goal has always been to have an impact on others. I serve as an advisor to students in our master’s program, helping them both navigate the program and formulate their professional plan or plans after they earn their degrees. I am lucky in that I get to work with aspiring school principals and superintendents—young teachers trying to figure out a path and interested in or troubled by some of the justice issues in their schools, and wanting to take on leadership roles to address those issues. Our program is set up for students who have a very clear idea that they’re on a path to school leadership. While not all of our students aspire to become principals, they have leadership aspirations or are interested in serving by influencing policy. Some imagine themselves as instructional experts working like a curriculum coordinator. Some want to write curriculum. Others want to start programs outside of school that serve marginalized groups or students. While we certainly act as a leading principal preparation program, we are proud to serve educators with other professional aspirations and a variety of career goals.

Q:    How would you characterize the students at the Lynch School and the career aspirations that brought them here?

For me, Our program is extremely collaborative. We have students from all over the world who are justice-oriented thinkers from every kind of educational context. We have students from all different kinds of schools—urban schools, suburban schools, rural, Catholic, private, public. 

Many students come to the Lynch School looking for a community of learners that includes students and faculty who can come together to work on issues of justice. Some are propelled by an interest that involves thinking about the structure and design of schools as they impact marginalized groups. Other students arrive at the Lynch School searching for partners in figuring out a path to leadership or seeking a space to reflect on their own place in the world and the contributions that they would like to make.

Q:    What aspects or teachings from the program are you most excited to share with students?

Students make sense of new information in relation to their prior knowledge, and they do that through reflection. What I’m excited about for our students is the opportunity to engage in a structured, collaborative reflection on their experiences with education, while those experiences are happening. There is an explicit attention paid to reflection in all of our classes. We’ve built our program around making space for such purposeful reflection, helping students consider how the actions and efforts of the individual can impact a social justice cause. In doing so, we teach our students how to engage in critical reflection as a skill. This is a really powerful way to make their professional lives ones in which they’re learning and growing.