The NSS Steering Committee invites all faculty to this year’s faculty retreat to be held on April 30, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The goal of the workshop is to develop a common framework for conversations about sensitive issues including race, gender, ethnicity, and equity, and new ideas for collaboration among our faculty. The retreat will feature Francesca Gino, Ph.D., (Harvard Business School) as the keynote speaker and will be facilitated by Dr. Tracey Durand and Dr. Lisa Williams from Education in Equity Partners. There will also be a 45-minute block of Lightning Talks around the topic of Difficult Conversations. Faculty are invited to submit their talk through the RSVP link. The deadline to submit is April 28, 2021.
Download the agenda here. Please note that the agenda will be updated as more Lightning Talks are added.
Meeting information: https://calstatela.zoom.us/j/86880328817
Dr. Francesca Gino. Dr. Gino is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a tenured professor at Harvard Business School. She is the best-selling author of, most recently, Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life. Her consulting and speaking clients include Bacardi, Akamai, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Honeywell, Novartis, P&G, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy. She has been honored as one of the world’s Top 40 Business Professors under 40 and one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers. Her work has been featured on CNN and NPR, as well as in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
Dr. Lisa Williams. Dr. Williams is a national consultant on topics of equity and access in public education. She is a founder with Education in Equity Partners (EEP), a consultant with the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) as well as her independent company, EMCS. In her consulting work, she has provided guidance for school boards, public and private schools as well as school systems and non-profits in the areas of racial equity, gender equity in STEM, leading for equity, school transformation, and culturally responsive practices. Dr. Williams has served as a Subject Matter Expert with the United States Department of Education Department of Career, Technical, and Adult Education division related to equitable access in STEM/CTE. She serves as the board President for Restorative Response Baltimore, an organization that provides guidance and support for Restorative Practices and Community Conferences to decrease violence and create inclusive environments across the Baltimore Metropolitan Area. Dr. Williams also served an advisor to the Thurgood Marshall Alliance which is an organization working with the Baltimore City Public Schools to promote equitable access to education for all its students.
Dr. Williams is the former Executive Director of Equity and Cultural Proficiency for the Baltimore County Public School System. Dr. Williams has held the position of teacher, mentor, university professor, and Title I director over her career in education. She has bachelors’ degrees in biology and psychology, an MA in psychology, and a doctorate in Urban Educational Leadership with an emphasis in social policy. She has presented at the local, state, and national level on topics related to improving outcomes for marginalized student populations. Her career in public education spans nearly 20 years. Her dissertation study examined Response to Intervention (RtI) and the performance of students attending Title I schools. In her work, she collaborated to create two certificate programs in educational equity and cultural proficiency with McDaniel College and Notre Dame University.
Her first book, When Treating all the Kids the Same is the Real Problem: Educational Leadership and the 21st Century Dilemma of Difference (co-authored with Dr. Kendra Johnson, Esq.) was published with Corwin Press in October 2014. The EEP team is in the process of writing a book on dismantling structural and systemic racism, sexism, classism and ableism to ensure access for multi-racial/multi-ethnic social service organizations. Dr. Williams is the proud mom of a son, Andrew, who is the daily inspiration for her work for all children.
Dr. Tracey Lynette Durant. Dr. Durant is a graduate of Western High School and holds degrees from Sojourner-Douglass College, Coppin State University, and Morgan State University. Dr. Durant has over 20 years of experience in the educational and nonprofit fields. She currently leads system-wide initiatives designed to promote the utilization of equitable practices, systems, and structures that ensure positive educational outcomes for students in a local school district. She has held roles as a Specialist in the Department of Equity and Cultural Proficiency, Baltimore County Public Schools; Director of Professional Development, Maryland Nonprofits; Founding Executive Director, 100 Black Men of Maryland College Access Program; Coordinator of Learning Assistance, Community College of Baltimore County; and Program Administrator and College Access Specialist, CollegeBound Foundation.
Dr. Durant is a founding partner with Equity in Education Partners focused on capacity building to dismantle systems of oppression that operate in social services organizations. She is an equity instructor with the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity providing professional development focused on improving underserved populations’ access to and success in educational and training programs that lead to high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand careers. She is also a Licensed Consultant with the Standards for Excellence Institute where she provides coaching and support to nonprofit organizations in the State of Maryland.
Some of her accomplishments include being selected as the Millers-Coors/100 Black Men of America Ice Cold Leader, named one of the Daily Record’s Top 100 Women and a Leading Woman, Sojourner-Douglass College Distinguished Alum, and the inaugural recipient of the CollegeBound Foundation Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Durant’s current professional and community service activities include: Board Chair, Child First Authority; Board Chair, Chimes Foundation, Incorporated; President, Maryland Multicultural Coalition; Advisory Board Member, Positive Schools Center; and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is married to Bruce Jr. and the proud mother of Cheyenne and Bruce III.