Transforming Education for Social Justice Empirical Insights from Leadership, Equity, and Research in Action

Gilberto Q. Conchas is the Wayne K. and Anita Woolfolk Hoy Endowed Chair in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his B.A. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and coauthor of over a dozen books—including The Color of Success; Streetsmart Schoolsmart; Cracks in the Schoolyard; Educational Policy Goes to School; The Complex Web of Inequality; The Chicana/o/x Dream; Race Frames in Education; We are Children of the Corn/Somos Hija/o/xs del Maíz: Husks of Hope, Resistance, and Latina/o/x Educational Success; and Repertoires of Racial Resistance. Dr. Conchas has been a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of California at Irvine and visiting professor at the University of Southern California, San Francisco State University, University of Washington, University of Barcelona, and the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He was also Senior Program Officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mahmoud Suleiman is a professor of teacher education at California State University, Bakersfield. He earned his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 1993. He previously taught at the Maricopa Community College District, AZ; Arizona State University, Tempe; and Fort Hays State University, KS. He joined CSUB in 1999 and has taught a variety of credential and graduate courses in the areas of multiculturalism, reading/literacy, action research, instructional leadership, second language acquisition, equity, social justice and inclusion, cultural literacy, and international education; he also has published in extensively in these fields. During his tenure at CSUB, he served as Director of the Multiple Subject Credential Program and as Chair of the Teacher Education Department as well as Chair of the Advanced Educational Studies. He is currently serving as a Core Faculty member and an Acting Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. He is a Fulbright Scholar (2009/2010) and completed his residency at the Bahrain Teachers College, University of Bahrain, Bahrain, as well as Fulbright Scholar (2016/2017) at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Teachers' Training, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.

Victor DeAlba is a PhD Candidate and graduate research assistant at The Pennsylvania State University. He was raised in the city of Lompoc, located in the Central Coast of California. He earned his AA in sociology from Allan Hancock College. He then transferred to UCLA where he earned his BA in sociology. He worked as a Community Engagement Specialist for Social Model Recovery Systems in Boyle Heights, CA and the Skid Row community of Los Angeles before deciding to return to academia. He is the coauthor of We are Children of the Corn/Somos Hija/o/xs del Maíz: Husks of Hope, Resistance, and Latina/o/x Educational Success. His current research includes the power of critical and transformative pedagogical spaces, amplifying Latina/o/x student voice, promoting educational opportunity for Latina/o/x students, and countering inequity in urban school systems.