Ģ����Ƶ

Radical self-care and doubling down on SOE’s mission, vision, and values in service of community

It’s not enough to be afraid of the laws and rules we����Dz�’t��want to see in schools. We have to clarify our visions of what, how, and where and with whom we want our beloveds to learn.

~ Eve Ewing

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.

~ Audre Lorde

Spring! and taking care
Spring Break last week could not have come at a better time. The beginning of Women’s History Month, the encroaching sounds and smells that go with warmer weather, and the aura of soon budding cherry blossoms confluence to springtime. Hopefully, you had an opportunity to rest and take time off from the routine of the semester, reflect on the year thus far, and recharge for the remainder of the semester. And what a semester it has already been…

A few years ago, I became aware of a blog by a colleague on��. I was immediately drawn to it firstly by its subtitle: Be Mindful, Trust the Process, Let Go of Outcomes. And now, it rings true as an important reminder to do some����without responding to the onslaught of pronouncements from the Department of Education and the current presidential administration.����

Monitoring federal policy changes and responses to education
Keeping track has been challenging. Our university’s Office of Sponsored Awards and Research Administration (OSARA) has been keeping us updated on��guidance on federal research policy changes. and our��school’s research website��is a key resource to keep track internally. There are also external resources to keep us updated on the federal landscape, especially related to�������Ի���.�� Still, we have had some successes resisting the loss of federal funding. On February 12^th, the School of Education’s��Residency in Excellence for Teaching and Learning project���ɲ�������

Notably, we continue to pay attention to calls to surveil universities who do not conform to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Most recently, they included statements����or��, especially considering����due to the school’s supposed inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination. Still, these efforts have not gone without��, and����from key higher education and legal institutions and advocacy groups in the US.����

As you read above,��Ģ����Ƶ was one of 60 institutions to receive a letter which outlines all universities’ responsibilities under Title VI but does not reference any specific actions against Ģ����Ƶ.��While��the university is not currently under formal investigation��for antisemitic conduct in violation of Title VI,��the university leadership��is actively addressing concerns raised by our Ģ����Ƶ community. In SOE, we realize the core of our antiracism focus includes addressing antisemitism and other forms of hate and terror waged against members of our diverse, multicultural, multi-ethnic, multilingual community. #WeAreSOE!

Doubling down on SOE’s DNA and service to our community
SOE’s independence in 2019 was born out of the school serving as a “community lever.”

And the questions remain:

• How do we use our “civic muscle” to serve as catalyst, as anchor, as a community lever for ourselves and those most affected by the aftermath of the federal executive orders, investigations, and increased anxiety because of the august policy shifts in education?����
• How might we tap into our��university support centers��and support networks (career, leadership and diversity, lifelong learning, etc.) to share and educate ourselves and others?
• How do we create spaces to talk, process, organize, convene in pursuit of and aligned with our SOE identity and with the very educators, counselors, policymakers, and teachers to recommit and reimagine a��?
• How do we reimagine our curricula, research agendas, and institutional practices to not only respond to the moment, but to actively disrupt the systems that make such moments possible?

As the university enters a��new phase of strategic planning this year, President Alger has invited us to explore what makes Ģ����Ƶ unique and distinctive. With representatives from SOE on these strategic planning working groups, we will continue to double-down on living out our mission, vision, and values in service to our SOE and larger Ģ����Ƶ community. And because #WeAreSOE!, we anticipate leading conversations around civic life, social change, and action consistent with our��mission, vision, and values.

As an opportunity to join us in community during President Alger’s Inauguration events we will host our next,��Big Ideas panel��entitled (in person!), “How Civil Discourse Shapes School Board Policy”. This event promises a thought-provoking session of experts who will highlight key issues often in conflict and contention at local levels, the role of civil discourse, and how educator preparation programs in preparing future educators for understanding local school board pressures and policy shifts.����and join us on campus next Thursday.��#WeAreSOE!

Look for more opportunities to be in community in the weeks and months ahead!

With all my best as we charge forward to the end of semester,
Rodney Hopson
Interim Dean and Professor

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Countering erasure of history and committing to equity

In honor of Black History Month 2025 and the efforts to understand, engage, and reclaim this important moment in American history, we are reminded of the architect of the song,��“Lift Every Voice and Sing”����by James Weldon Johnson. The third stanza of the song begins:

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast’ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet, Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

Johnson’s anthem penned in 1900 was both a reflection of a journey shortly after the Reconstruction Era, the rollback of policies and laws that eliminated freedoms previously provided to an enslaved class of Americans of African descent, and a reminder about the perseverance needed to pursue American dreams and ideals unseen nor unrealized. ��, are timely messages that highlight this very reminder about the pursuit of values of diversity and inclusiveness enshrined in our country’s motto:��E Pluribus Unum.

We are a school unwavering in our support and space as reflected in our��mission, vision, and values��that recognize the need for us to be catalysts in our universities, recognize the role of history in the formation of coalitions to address social and civic change, and aspire to prepare the next generation of educator and teacher preparation for the world that awaits them. #WeAreSOE!

Last week at Tuesday night’s��Committing to Equity in Turbulent Times��Big Ideas webinar, a group of distinguished legal and historical scholars and leaders of schools/colleges of education and associations dedicated to teacher education participated in an intriguing and timely panel on the topic that addressed pursuing equity amidst the wide array of policy actions, ranging from de-funding and removal of��,����and public health�������Ի���, and��. They also discussed��, and����dedicated to support to global communities, families, and children in most need.

��“This is not new”, as each panelist echoed. Participants recognized that today’s rapid policy actions have historical roots. Martin Luther King Jr’s quote delivered from his��, reminded us that the “arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

����in navigating the current policy environment and related uncertainties. And in doing so, we have roles to play in contributing to the public good and lifting the levels of civic discourse and imagination. For instance, American U President Alger’ s strategic thinking on the����has an opportunity to be far-reaching within and beyond our campus in Northwest, Washington, DC. In fact, building coalitions among key��,��,�������Ի���,��,��, and philanthropic leaders is a prerequisite for engaging in the type of discourse and action to advance our values and missions.

The panelists echoed the need to reclaim stories and narratives related to the power of equity and the hope and possibility for a better tomorrow. Flashback two weeks ago to����reflected in layered lyrics and allusions and��, Harlem Renaissance poet who wrote in the early 20^th��century, both quotes reflect indictments and broken promises of equality and accessibility for all.��

Forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than music.

Yeah, they tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.

- Kendrick Lamar @ SuperBowl LIX Halftime, 2/9/25

Let America be American again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.

– Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again”

In our school, we will not be passive nor equivocal about the current moment but be ready to use our knowledge of history and struggle to tell what makes SOE a special place to recruit and equip our teachers, schools, and communities for reimagining ways to build strategies for collective and collaborative coalition building for social change and justice … now more than ever. #WeAreSOE!

Aluta continua (the struggle continues)!
Rodney Hopson
Interim Dean and Professor

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An incredible gift that reinforces SOE’s leadership��

In an extraordinary act of love and dedication to our community, our��School of Education��has received a groundbreaking gift from SOE alumnus and Kogod School of Business faculty member H. Kent Baker, in memory of his wife Linda. The Linda A. and H. Kent Baker School of Education will be named in recognition of Kent’s remarkable generosity. As Ģ����Ƶ’s first school naming gift in 45 years and the largest gift by an individual donor in Ģ����Ƶ’s history, this is a profound gift with a special story. Now, take a breath…��

A quadruple Eagle, Kent has earned multiple advanced degrees from the School of Education, has been a member of the Kogod School of Business faculty for more than 50 years, and continues to publish at a prolific rate on a variety of topics in his field. His father and brother are also Ģ����Ƶ alumni. Linda was a double alumna of the Kogod School of Business and served for many years as assistant treasurer in the university’s Office of Finance. Through this gift, Kent hopes his and Linda’s story will be shared with and inspire the community that meant so much to them both. ��

As a nationally recognized educator preparation school with growing distinction for our innovative equity-based degree programs, robust network of interdisciplinary and community partnerships, and high-profile research led by����and phenomenal staff, the School of Education is honored to receive such an extraordinary gift.��Not only are we to be the only named school or college of education in the Washington, DC-region, we join a select number of top-ranked graduate schools of education that have been named. Through this gift, we are better positioned to achieve our aspirational goals and continue our upward trajectory.��

This gift aligns with our School’s mission, vision, and values, supports our signature academic offerings, and bolsters our notable community programs and partnerships with����(such as the��Teacher Pipeline Project��and the��Dual Enrollment Program) that carry on a proud legacy at SOE. Our high standards for��collaboration are also found within our��, an initiative between Ģ����Ƶ,��, and��. #WeAreSOE!��

With this gift, Kent desires to further distinguish the School of Education and position us for continued success. The gift ensures that the school will be a leading nexus for education programs and research into the future and can continue to recruit, enroll, and prepare the critically needed next generation of educators. It will provide permanent endowed resources for the school and establish an endowed leadership chair, which will be the first endowed leadership position for a school at Ģ����Ƶ. ��The gift will also provide resources to enhance areas of distinction, including expanding the school’s existing community partnerships and interdisciplinary, translational, and transdisciplinary research, as well as scholarship resources to recruit and retain graduate students.��

We look forward celebrating upcoming milestones related to the gift and the great work we will continue to do to motivate the next generation of educators!��

With gratitude and inspiration for this amazing gift!��

Rodney Hopson
Interim Dean and Professor��

(with acknowledgements to Vicky Wilkins, Dan Lupercio, Jackie Mabry, Jason Pier, and Danielle Bowes for their contributions to this announcement)

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What a time to be alive! What a time to be a teacher, counselor, or educational policy advocate with economic, educational, environmental, climate, and social justice commitments in 2025! #WeAreSOE!

Those of us who came of age in a time of great civil and human rights change in the US could not imagine the current challenge to these very notions. In one week, President Trump’s��, and����have been prolific and wide-reaching. In particular,�������Ի�����to longstanding policies favoring civil rights and social justice are an attempt to reset the dreams that those like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived and died for. In a recent meeting of the Ģ����Ƶ President’s Council, we heard from����at the American Council on Education about expectations for higher education from the Trump administration. He referenced the following topics (with links provided from varied media, non-profit and government sources below):

• Fansmith’s opinion piece about the higher education implications of the Chevron case ();
• ��and holding universities accountable for student loan debt;
• , “Universities are the enemy” and��;
• , including����ruling;
• ��covered here by��; and
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce’s��.

Last Monday during the federal holiday that honors this Nobel-Peace-prize winning, humanitarian, and civic and religious leader of the highest order, instead of being glued to the regular news outlets, we found ourselves at home listening to Rev. King’s speeches replaying on YouTube. Two months before his untimely death and assassination, he may be known for the speech in his pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where he references the distinctiveness and uniqueness of being a��. He proclaimed,

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice…Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.

Now more than ever we at SOE heed the drum major calling of our��mission, vision, values, and��our community committed to eliminating oppression through the education ecosystem. What a tall order in these times! Our ability to collaborate, connect, build, and leverage with others sharing our drum major instincts will be our lifeline during the days ahead.

I hope you will����for the upcoming Big Ideas webinar,��Committing to Educational Equity During Turbulent Times��on February 18 at 6pm ET. Moderated by Dr. Annice Fisher, with current and former education deans and other experts in history, civil rights, and law, we ask, “How can education practitioners and schools/colleges of education navigate the shifting environment while advancing access, opportunity, and outcomes for all learners?” Together, we'll discuss strategies for fostering access, addressing inequities, and driving lasting social change with renewed purpose and commitment, especially given the current environment. #WeAreSOE!

Comings and goings.

• A big welcome to��Shawna Russo Vidmar��who will serve as the Graduate Program Coordinator for the Master’s in Education Policy and Leadership program and contribute to our amazing team of GPCs(!). Until recently, she served as the Program Assistant for the Master’s in Public Leadership Program and the U San Francisco in DC Program. She brings 7 years of global experience as a graduate program administrator with 7 years of global experience managing the operations of and coordinating the events for a master’s program in public leadership, a military transition assistance program, think tanks, non-profits, and a high school.
• We wish��Alex Ward, his wife Stacy, and newborn daughter Selina the best in their relocation to NYC! Alex began a PhD program in clinical psychology at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. As the Director of Academic Administration, Alex has adeptly managed and administered graduate programs, working collaboratively with key internal and external marketing stakeholders, to bolster admissions, and was a key member of the Leadership Team.

In honor of the legacy of Rev. King and the work that we continue to commit at SOE,
Rodney Hopson
Interim Dean and Professor

Errata from Welcome Back message of 1/13:

• Ricardo Garcia is the president of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and Carlos Gamez serves as the vice president of GSC.
• Correct spelling of Greek poet is Dinos Christianopoulos. The original line was written in Greek (translated: what didn’t you do to bury me, but you forgot that I was a seed):

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