Alumni – Page 5 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

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.

Hope As a Practice

Viviana Cordero García, IRT ’15
Chief Alumni Success Officer, Esperanza Academy

Seven years ago, I walked through the doors of Esperanza Academy with big dreams and bigger questions. I was building my life as an educator and leader, a leader in a community that reminded me of my own—where stories of strength often begin with sacrifice. Since then, I’ve grown a program, a family, a team, and, most importantly, a deeper sense of what it means to sustain hope in times that test it.

Hope, esperanza, for me, is not wishful thinking. It is a practice. A verb. A discipline of presence.

I sustain hope by staying rooted in relationships—with my students and alumni, with their mothers and abuelitas, with my team, with fellow nonprofit leaders and board members who share in the long-haul work of justice, with my ancestors, and with the younger version of me who needed someone to say, “You belong here.” I hold space for grief and joy to exist at the same table because, in our community, they always do.

Alumni Reunite for Summer Workshop Experience

The IRT is thrilled to have Heather Moore Roberson, IRT ’07, ’10 Ryan Sermon, IRT ’10, and Renée Wilmot, IRT ’12, ’17 return as Summer Workshop Co-Curriculum Coordinators. They took a few moments to share what brings them back and their expectations for this year’s workshop.

Heather Moore Roberson is the Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Allegheny College. Heather received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the American Studies program at Purdue University.

What motivates you to return as a Co-Curriculum Coordinator?

I have had the honor and privilege to serve as a member of the faculty since 2016. After I received my Ph.D., it was vital for me to get reconnected with the next generation of teacher scholars who will transform higher education. I would not be a faculty member/administrator if it wasn’t for the IRT Summer Workshop. IRT continues to be an integral part of my village. As a curriculum coordinator, I get to share my experiences and insights that will help scholars thrive in K-16 environments.