IRT Advisory Board Member Jasmine Ma, PA, ’23
Although Brown v. Board of Education is known as a landmark ruling that outlawed segregation in schools, it also caused a sharp decline in the number of Black educators and altered the cultural perceptions of the teaching profession. This series, Legacies of Brown, seeks to examine the consequences of Brown’s aftermath and provide a historical context for the founding and mission of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers.
*In this article, “minority” refers to Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Alaska Native, and people of two or more races.
It’s been over a month since my last day at the IRT, and truthfully, I’ve missed it every single day. I was employed at the IRT for six years, first as the Coordinator for Recruitment and Admissions (later renamed the Recruitment & Admissions Program Specialist), then as the Associate Director and Manager of Programs, and briefly, as the Interim Director. I’ve seen the IRT go through a host of changes in the relatively short time I’ve been there. But through those changes, the organization has also stayed true to a radical re-envisioning of the American education system.
I have the honor of serving as the co-editor of Black Perspectives, the award-winning digital platform of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) along with Dr. Sasha Turner. Dr. Keisha Blain founded the site in 2017 with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi serving as associate editor. Black Perspectives emerged as an outgrowth of the original AAIHS blog founded by Dr. Chris Cameron in 2014 as part of his efforts to build AAIHS. I began writing for the platform in 2017, in 2018 I became an associate editor, and in January 2019, I assumed the role of senior editor.
IRT’s Associate Director and Manager of Programs Kate Slater shares her insights on time management.
It was my final year studying and taking only honors courses in English through the Honors College at Michigan State University. I was looking into graduate study and came across one K. Kelly Wise and the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT). Accepted into their 2005 cohort, I remember attending the college fair at IRT on the campus of Phillips Academy, Andover and being told to stop by the Purdue University table by then Mr. Wise. Why? It was his alma mater and I had the intellectual DNA to become a Boilermaker. That was in 2005, and in 2007 and 2013, respectively I obtained my Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University! En route, I have received literary and teaching awards, grants and stipends, the distinguished Purdue Doctoral Fellowship and even published a book: The Position of Magic In Selected Medieval Spanish Texts as a Master’s student through Cambridge Scholars Publishing. I do not share these accomplishments to boast in my own strength and erudition but to boast in the guidance and advising of now Dr. (Hon.) K. Kelly Wise and his team.
Institute for Recruitment of Teachers 
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