Featured Speakers
The Illuminators Gathering
Bettina L. Love, Ph.D
Dr. Love is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal, honored with the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism and recognized by the LA Times Book Prize, the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice, the National Council for Black Studies’ Anna Julia Cooper & C.L.R. James Book Award, and the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize long list. A 2022 Kennedy Center Next 50 Leader, she received the 2024 Truth Award for Excellence in Education and the Black Girl Magic Award at Lincoln Center. Dr. Love helped launch the “In Her Hands” initiative, distributing more than $13 million to Black women across Georgia. A sought-after speaker on abolitionist teaching, anti-racism, Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, educational reparations, and arts-based civic engagement, she has been a guest on NPR and PBS, and her work has appeared in Time, The Guardian, Education Week, and more. The Georgia House of Representatives honored her contributions in 2018. A regular Education Week Opinion contributor, her 2019 book We Want To Do More Than Survive — nearing 200,000 copies sold — has become a foundational classroom text.
Garry W. Jenkins
Garry W. Jenkins is president and professor of politics at Bates College. He became Bate’s ninth president in July 2023. A nationally respected authority on nonprofit organizations, corporate governance, lawyers and leadership development, and higher education, his scholarship has appeared in several publications including the Southern California Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Tulane Law Review, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. He has earned recognition for contributions across nonprofit law, global justice, and corporate law, and is a member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Previously, President Jenkins served seven years as dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he strengthened rankings and diversity, expanded experiential learning, improved student outcomes, bolstered student well-being, nearly doubled the endowment, and completed the school’s largest fundraising campaign.
Davarian L. Baldwin, Ph.D.
Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies
Trinity College
Gretchen Brion-Meisels, Ed.D.
Senior Lecturer on Education
Faculty Co-Chair, Identity, Power, and Justice in Education Concentration
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Bryant Ford, Ph.D.
Director, Counseling and Psychological Services
Brown University
Jonathan Feingold, J.D.
Associate Professor
Boston University School of Law
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ’96, MBA
Vice President & Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Wesleyan University
April L. Horton, Ph.D.
Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM
Bates College
Charlotte E. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Director, Penn Independent School Teaching Residency
University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education
Jackson Matos, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education
Mount Holyoke College
Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, Ph.D.
Dean and Chief Administrative Officer
University of Connecticut, Hartford
Saran Stewart, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Higher Education and Student Affairs
University of Connecticut, Neag School of Education
Natasha K. Warikoo, Ph.D.
Lenore Stern Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Tufts University