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Join us for the inaugural TEP Speaker Series – an enriching journey of professional growth and community engagement.  

About the TEP Speaker Series 

This academic year, the UW Teacher Education Program, in collaboration with the Endowed Professor of Teacher Education and Teacher Learning for Justice, is thrilled to introduce a quarterly speaker series titled “(Re)Connecting with Ourselves, Our Purpose, and One Another.” 

This series is designed for all current UW TEP candidates and UW COE-affiliated (TEP, EduDesign, ILP, L4L, Danforth) educator alumni. It aims to reinforce our vision of the UW ���ߺ��� as a professional home where belonging and ongoing learning are central. 

We envision this series as a space where educators and learners from our community can continually engage with new ideas, reflect on their professional journeys, and reconnect with their purpose and each other. Each session is crafted to provide not only inspiration but also practical insights and tools that can be integrated into your professional practice. 

Our goal is to cultivate a dynamic environment where every participant feels a strong sense of connection to the broader educational mission and to their personal and professional development. 

Meet Our Speakers & Explore Our Events

Event 3: Culturally and Historically Responsive Education with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is the John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has previously served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling books Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. She also co-authored the book Black Girls’ Literacies. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. In the fall of 2025, her first curriculum, entitled Genius and Joy, will be available to schools and educators.

Join us to explore Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s frameworks for designing powerful curricula that honor all students’ identities and genius.

Date: May 16th, 2025

Clock hours: 1.5 equity clock hours are available for participation in this event for a $15 administrative fee. Please RSVP for the event and register for clock hours separately below.

Event 2: TEP Speaker Series and Leading Towards Justice Symposium

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Cynthia Dillard, Dr. Anna Lees and Dr. Gloria Henderson about “How do we teach and lead in ways that are consequential and responsive to our current climate and conditions?”

Date: February 7th, 2025

Event 1: Back to School/Homecoming with Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

Overview: Kick off the series with , exploring her work on the archeology of the self and its impact on creating nurturing educational environments.

Date: October 10, 2024

• 5:45 – 6:00: Check-in and Opening reception
• 6:30-6:45: Opening Remarks
• 6:45-8:00: Interactive Keynote
• 8:00-8:30: Closing Reception

Featured Speakers and Events 

Featured Speaker – October 2024 

is a Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. In May 2024, Yolanda was honored with the prestigious Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. She is the co-editor of five books and co-author of the multiple award-winning book Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces (2021), where she delves into her concept of Archeology of Self™ in education. Her first full-length poetry collection, Love from the Vortex & Other Poems, was published in March 2020, followed by her second poetry book, The Peace Chronicles, in July 2021. 

Yolanda delivered the opening TEDx Talk at the 2022 TEDx UPENN conference at the University of Pennsylvania, titled Truth, Love & Racial Literacy. For three consecutive years, she has been named one of EdWeek's EduScholar Influencers, a select group of the Top 1% of educational scholars in the U.S. She is the founder of the Racial Literacy Project @TC and the Racial Literacy Roundtables Series, facilitating discussions on race and diversity with national scholars, teachers, and students for over 15 years. Yolanda has appeared in Spike Lee’s 2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright (2016) and Defining Us, Children at the Crossroads of Change, documentaries exploring the Black Lives Matter movement and supporting Black and Latinx youth. 

Connect with Yolanda on Twitter at and on Instagram at . 

Get in Touch 

For more information or questions, please reach out to Aline Espindola, TEP Program Coordinator, at 206.543.1755 or aespindo@uw.edu.