Alumni – Page 4 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

Learning from the Environment and the People While Remaining Ever Curious

by Crystal Alexandra Simmons, IRT ’24

When you ask someone “where have you been?” it can bring about a myriad of answers. Depending on the context, we often feel the pressure of naming and listing all the places and spaces. But what’s the point in sharing our travels if we don’t slow down and digest all the lessons from the experiences. Throughout my life, I have traveled to many places in the United States (and still some to go) along with four other countries (technically 5 but the Vatican was kind of a (twofer”). From an early age, my curiosity about the world and the life that inhabits it fascinated me. What do people do for work? What do they eat everyday? Do they like pancakes like me? Do they go see their grandmother monthly like I did? Do they have the same flowers as here? So many more questions had swirled in my head as a young child about ways of life that were happening miles away from my hometown of Waldorf, Maryland. My mother would often call me her “show me” child. As a child, I was constantly watching and learning from my environment. One of those early signs that my instinct to see and connect with the world was far more eminent than I realized. At one point in my adolescence, I thought I was going to go to Johns Hopkins and major in International relations (an elevator pitch I had developed after my first year in high school). But what was always fascinating to me about traveling was the stories of the people. My grandparents always had stories of the food they ate, situations they ran into, and how they met the people along the way. It was where I learned that no matter where you go, connecting with the land is about the people, and the people make the experience.

First Year Perspectives and Advice from IRT Alumni

We asked recent scholars in the IRT 2023 Cohort to share their experiences during their first year in graduate school. Here’s what they had to say…

Hi! My name is Sarah Brokenborough, and I just wrapped up my first year in the joint PhD program in Art History and Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. I moved to New Orleans right after finishing my MA in the History of Art in London. I thought I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted my PhD dissertation to look like. But over the past year, my coursework has really broadened my research interests. I presented at four conferences, an on-campus symposium, and even travelled to Berlin to present at a workshop at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Connecting with other PhD students and faculty helped me see how my interdisciplinary research fits into ongoing conversations in the field. Tulane has been incredibly supportive. My two home departments provided several travel and research grants.

Alumni Accolades, June 2025

Reena Goldthree, IRT ’02
Congratulations to Dr. Reena Goldthree, who earned tenure at Princeton University. She is an Associate Professor of African American Studies.

Wilson Okello, IRT ’08
Congratulations to Dr. Wilson Okello, who earned tenure at Penn State University. He is an Associate Professor of Education (HIED) and Research Associate (Center for the Study of Higher Education).

Mariahadessa Tallie, IRT ’17
Mariahadessa earned her Ph.D. in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies from Brown University. Mariahadessa is a poet, artist, and scholar. Congratulations and best wishes are also extended to her daughter Joy-Shanti Sindayiganza, who graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, class of 2025.

Courtney Murray Ross, IRT ’18
Murray earned her Ph.D. in English and African American Studies from Pennsylvania State University.

Gerald Jae Sevillano, IRT ’18
Sevillano earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from The George Washington University.

Joe Baez, IRT ’18
Baez earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from The George Washington University.

Let us know if you recently received your Ph.D. We would love to share your accomplishment in the IRT Newsletter!

Introducing the 2025 IRT Summer Workshop Faculty

The annual IRT Summer Workshop gathers current scholars, alumni, university deans, and liaisons during its month-long virtual program. IRT Alumni design the curriculum and engage with scholars through a series of presentations, seminars, and workshops. For more on the Summer Workshop Framework, please refer to a previous post:

IRT 2025 Summer Workshop Framework

2025 Summer Workshop Curriculum Coordinators

Heather Moore Roberson, IRT ’07 & ’10
Dean of Student & Community Development; Associate Professor-Community & Justice Studies & Black Studies Affiliate Faculty-Education Studies, Allegheny College

Heather Moore Roberson, Ph.D. (pronouns: she/her/hers) is a strategic visionary and transformative leader with 17 years of experience teaching and leading in higher education. Dr. Roberson is an award-winning leader, teacher, and researcher who advances initiatives related to race, equity, and justice in higher education. She has published articles on diversity, equity, and inclusion in Academic Leader and facilitated presentations on culturally relevant leadership for the Council of Independent Colleges and Leadership in Higher Education conferences. In 2024, Heather was listed as one of the top 100 Black Trailblazers in the state of Pennsylvania by City & State Magazine—named for leaders in politics, business, and education.

In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Heather is a tenured member of the faculty at Allegheny College in Community & Justice Studies and Black Studies. She is the first Black woman in the College’s history to attain tenure. Dr. Roberson is the recipient of the Thoburn Award for Teaching Excellence and continues teaching courses on race, identity, and education in the United States. As a scholar and lifelong learner, she conducts research in pop culture, Black Studies, Education, and Black youth masculinity. In 2024, her edited collection Thinking about Black Education: An Interdisciplinary Reader (with Dr. Hilton Kelly, Elon University) won the Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. Heather received two Bachelor’s degrees in Educational Studies and American Studies from Trinity College (Hartford, CT), a M.A. in American Studies from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Purdue University in 2015.

New Book by Tiffany Joseph, IRT ’03 Comments on the US Healthcare System

For nearly a decade, respected sociologist and Northeastern University professor Tiffany Joseph, Andover ’00, IRT ’03, researched the impact of health reforms like the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare on everyday people’s ability to access health coverage and care in our complicated US healthcare system. In her new book, NOT ALL IN: RACE, IMMIGRATION, AND HEALTH CARE EXCLUSION IN THE AGE OF OBAMACARE (Johns Hopkins University Press; March 2025), Joseph reveals how Obamacare’s documentation status exclusions alongside persistent structural racism in the healthcare system reduced healthcare access for Latino immigrants and citizens. Her 200+ interviews with immigrants, providers, and advocates in Boston drives home an essential point: access to coverage does not guarantee access to care in a system that prioritizes profits over people.