1991 Cohort – Page 2 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

Associate Director & Manager of Programs Update, June 2023

Dear IRT Community,

During our transition from Spring into Summer, it is a time of joy and new beginnings. IRT warmly congratulates our outgoing IRT scholars who will be entering graduate school this Fall and who have now been inducted into the IRT alumni network, approximately 3000 strong. At the same time, we also welcome our incoming 2023 IRT Scholar cohort who started on June 1st for a comprehensive 10 month program to include advising, webinars, an intensive summer workshop taught by IRT alum faculty and opportunities to engage directly with the IRT Consortium of Colleges and Universities. IRT has truly grown to be responsive to the changing educational landscape. Providing aspiring BIPOC graduate students with ongoing mentorship and support to successfully navigate graduate school and beyond is critical for diversifying and retaining educators across PK-12 through higher education.

Alumni Accolades, June 2023

Sonia Garcia, IRT ‘92 was appointed as the new assistant dean for Undergraduate Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia.

Monica Muñoz Martinez, IRT ’05 named one of USA Today’s Women of the Year recognizing women who have made a significant impact in their communities across the country. She is an associate professor at the University of Texas.

Candis Watts Smith, IRT ‘05 is the interim Vice Provost of undergraduate education at Duke University.

Cecilia Márquez, IRT ’10 wrote a book “Making the Latino South,” which will be out in September 2023 from the University of North Carolina Press. Márquez is Hunt Family Assistant Professor of History at Duke University. For information on the book visit the UNC Press website.

Alumni Accolades, September 2022

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).

IRT Alumni Mentor Phillips Academy’s Students of Color and Participate in MLK Workshop

by Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91

Since November of 2020, Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91 has served as one of the faculty advisors for the Af-Lat-Am Mentoring Program (AMP) at Phillips Academy which has a membership of 104 students of color. Leislie, along with the input of six student coordinators creates and plans programming that benefits students’ personal and academic growth. During the current academic year, Leislie and the coordinators hosted Ms. Warner and Mr. Coy of the Academic Skills Center who discussed study strategies and, more recently, during the MLK Jr. holiday weekend, IRT alumna, Kelicia Hollis Jessie ‘11 was invited by the organization and held a workshop titled AMP Mentoring Reset: Going Back to Basics, an interactive session in which the mentors learned ways to be more intentional and effective in their interactions with their mentees. Additionally, Aleena Kibria, one of IRT’s Student Advisory Board Leaders conducted a MLK Jr. Workshop titled “What Is a Bad Hair Day? In this presentation, Aleena and her peers discussed how often students think about their hair, Eurocentric beauty standards, the politics of hair, hair discrimination, and legal efforts to rectify hair discrimination in schools and the workplace. Aleena went a step further for her presentation and interviewed Phillips Academy and IRT students Kevin Pajaro-Mariñez, IRT’15 LaKisha Simmons, IRT ’02 and Elyx Desloover, IRT’ 21 about their feelings regarding their hair. Check out their discussion on YouTube.

Congratulations Aleena on a dynamic and well-received MLK Workshop!

Relieving Winter Stress & Staying Healthy

IRT staff share go-to-activities for stress free ways to endure the cold weather months!

Winter in New England is long and after the holidays it can be a little dreary. IRT staff are finding ways to enjoy these months each in their own way. An outside holiday gathering and doggie play date with Basil, Millie & Henry in a fun, outside setting started the early winter months off right!