Maya Malik (they/them), MSSW, is an incoming doctoral student in the Curriculum and Instruction program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Maya is interested in utilizing arts-based research to co-create informal education programs with queer Black American youth from areas impacted by community violence. They earned their Masters of Science in Social Work from …
Carly McClennahan is pursuing her PhD in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UW-Madison. Previously, she taught middle and high school English Language Arts and English as a Second Language. Currently, she is interested in teacher and student perspectives on language arts curriculum—particularly curriculum that is culturally sustaining and affirming—as well as how the …
Alex Mikev is an interdisciplinary artist whose conceptual interests include themes related to work as an activity in daily modern life, such as acts of repetitive labor, the meaning of words and images associated with capital production, and broader cultural phenomena such as notions of temporal autonomy and the commodification of time. Mikev uses drawing, …
Estevan Molina is originally from Tempe, AZ, and received his BA in Criminology from The Ohio State University. He continued his education at the University of Cincinnati where he received his JD and Miami University where he received his MA in Social Studies Education. Prior to beginning the PhD in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis …
Nicole Marie Montañez Alicea is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Kinesiology and a member of the Lab for the Study of Occupation. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Adapted and Elementary Physical Education from the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamón Campus. Driven by a commitment to enhancing …
Mark Moralez is originally from Milwaukee, WI, and received his BS in Political Science/Public Administration from UW-La Crosse. He received his Master of Public Affairs (MPA) from UW-Madison’s La Follette School in May ’23, and his Master of Science in Higher Education in May ’24. Mark developed a passion for higher education and students throughout …
Tiffany Munro (she/hers) is a second generation Haitian-American from Miami, Florida, who is currently pursing a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology. She brings a liberatory diasporic lens to her work, centering the intergenerational knowledge folk bring to systems of education and health. Her programmatic research agenda, grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT), examines the ways …
Elijah Nicks brings an interdisciplinary lens to education, shaped by an undergraduate degree in biochemistry with a minor in African and African Diaspora Studies and an MBA with a concentration in Educational Leadership. Now a third-year Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, his research focuses on the persistent underrepresentation of Black and Brown …
Curtis O’Dwyer is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research lies at the intersection of science education, science studies, Black Studies, and political economy. He is currently investigating how the teaching philosophies and pedagogies of Black science educators—past and present—may unsettle racialized mechanisms of discipline …
Charity Okpara is a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Originally from Nigeria, she holds a B.A. in English Education and an M.A. in English from the University of Port Harcourt and the University of Ibadan, respectively. She also earned a second M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) …