Julia Jordan-Zachery, IRT ‘91
Jordan-Zachery has assumed the role of Professor and Chair of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Wake Forest University. The following books from Jordan-Zachery are available or will be available soon – Eat the Meat and Spit out the Bones (poetry from Main Street Rag); Erotic Testimonies: Black Women Daring to be Wild and Free (SUNY Press); Lavender Fields: Black Women Experiencing fear, agency and hope in the time of COVID-19 (Univ. of Arizona Press).
Dr. Samuel is an education equity expert. Her experience includes advising for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, consulting for the Commonwealth Corporation, and coaching for the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers. In addition to working with education organizations, she also provides 1:1 coaching and small group workshops for various education stakeholders.
Dr. Samuel recently spoke with Brittany Zorn, IRT ’13 on her work and experiences. The written transcription of their conversation, link to an audio copy and an introduction by Brittany is included below.
As an IRT alumna, I started my role as Arts & Sciences Programs Specialist for the IRT with a ton of enthusiasm and boundless energy. Early on in my career, I was tasked with incorporating more opportunities for current students to connect directly with alumni. One of the ways I sought to bring more alumni perspectives to our advising curriculum was through the curation of multiple alumni panels and alumni-lead talks during the Summer Workshop (this was, of course, pre-pandemic when in-person programming was still the universal standard.) As luck would have it, I was casually scrolling Facebook one day and came across a post by IRT alumna Jessica S. Samuel, IRT ’15 regarding some of the work she was doing at Boston University around self-care for BIPOC students at PWIs as a revolutionary and libratory act. I instantly identified Jessica’s work as addressing a gap in IRT’s advising curriculum that I was working to close; we wanted to facilitate more intentional conversations around wellness for our scholars, and Jessica clearly demonstrated some specialization in this area through her post. I reached out and invited her to lead IRT’s first ever Wellness Day keynote address in the 2017 IRT Summer Workshop, and this collaboration served as the starting point of our working relationship ever since.
Continue reading “An Interview with Dr. Jessica Samuel, IRT ’15 on Educational Equity”
I treasure the Summer solstice in a newfound way. In the past, summers meant a chance to reset, reflect, and find new ways to feel free after shedding the stress of the academic year. The last few years have not been easy for many of us.
The ongoing pandemic, democratic instability, and lack of community have left many wondering what comes next and how to rebuild. Amidst this uncertainty, I find the workshop and IRT summer have a perfect opportunity to reset.
Continue reading “Executive Letter, June 2022”IRT is proud to welcome 104 Scholars into the 2022 Cohort! We are excited by the enthusiasm and diligence these Scholars have already displayed in just the first few weeks of engagement with the program. As is often the case amongst IRT students, this year’s cohort displays a zeal for producing scholarship, developing curriculums, and facilitating interventions which will greatly increase access to education and equity within all aspects of life for historically marginalized populations. Compared to recent years, this cohort has a bigger majority of scholars pursuing fields in education and pursuing Decorate degrees. Psychology, counseling, and therapy are increasingly popular fields amongst IRT scholars as well. We cannot help but wonder how much the pandemic, and our systematic and institutional responses to the global health crisis, have informed these growing fields and degree paths of interest amongst our scholars. One thing is clear; the passion, drive, and brilliance of the 2022 Cohort is a continuation of IRT alumni’s historic excellence, and we are excited to help this next generation of researchers, educators, and leaders apply to graduate programs on their pathways to transformative careers!
Continue reading “Welcome 2022 IRT Cohort!”Catherine Wong (she/her/hers) has been appointed Associate Director and Manager of Programs (ADMP) Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers, an outreach program housed at Phillips Andover Academy, focused on diversifying graduate education and K-12 through higher education professions to include teachers, professors and academic leaders.
Ms. Wong is a lifelong educator focusing on teacher training, educational leadership and youth outreach while centering diversity, equity and inclusion. She is unwavering and uncompromising in her support of educators of color and first generation to college. She has long believed that it should be the norm, not the exception, that our students have well trained teachers, specialists, and school leaders, who are reflections of their lived experiences and communities. For Ms. Wong teaching and learning is not a top-down hierarchical process, but one of co-construction and connectedness. Her accomplishments were honored this past year as the City of Boston’s 2021 EXTRAordinary Woman .
Continue reading “IRT Welcomes Catherine Wong as Associate Director and Manager of Programs”
Institute for Recruitment of Teachers 
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