2018 Curriculum Inquiry Writing Fellows

Cassie J. Brownell

Cassie J. Brownell graduated this spring with her doctorate degree in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University, with a specialization in Language and Literacies. She is excited to begin as Assistant Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education within the University of Toronto on July 1st. As a former early childhood and elementary educator in post-Katrina New Orleans, Cassie's scholarship amplifies the experiences and voices of multilingual and multicultural children in urban schools. Her past research has examined children's written and multimodal texts in schools, the intersection of critical literacies and civics, and how, by hearing differences, children and teachers can listen to and compose experiences of community.

Desire Chiwandire

Mr. Desire Chiwandire currently lectures Inclusion and Barriers to Learning course to Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students in the Education Department of Political and International Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa. In 2017, he taught Decolonising Disability Politics Matters course in the Department of Political and International Studies, Rhodes University. He is the co-editor of Making the Circle Bigger: South African Higher Education, Social Justice and Students with Disabilities (forthcoming-UKZN Press). He holds B.Soc Sci. (Honours) in Political and International Studies and a Master’s (cum laude) in Political and International Studies all from Rhodes University where he is also completing his PhD. His thesis focuses on measures taken by South African universities in socially including students with disabilities. His research interests centres around the inclusion of persons with disabilities in higher education and the labour market (specifically in the South African context) and has showcased his research in numerous conferences both in South Africa and internationally. He is also a member of the Rhodes Disability Committee.

Justin Grinage

Justin Grinage is Postdoctoral Associate in Literacy Education within the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include critical literacy, race and education, postcolonial theory, and critical whiteness studies. His current scholarship stems from his dissertation The Melancholy of Schooling: A Critical Ethnographic Study of Race, Trauma, and Learning in a High School English Classroom where he uses the concept of racial melancholia to discern the mechanisms in which racial trauma influences teaching and learning.

Eli Kean

Eli Kean earned their Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education from Michigan State University. Eli draws on sociology, philosophy, and history to critically analyze curriculum and pedagogical practice, with particular attention to gender discourses within classroom spaces, and seeks to transform education into a liberatory space for transgender individuals.

Saili S. Kulkarni

Saili S. Kulkarni is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at San Jose State University located in San Jose, California (as of August 2018). Dr. Kulkarni's research examines disability studies and critical race theory (DisCrit) in teacher education. Specifically, Dr. Kulkarni is interested in the influence and development of teacher beliefs about disability and race. She was an Assistant Professor at California State University Dominguez Hills where she worked in the Department of Special Education. There, Dr. Kulkarni earned the Exceptional Services to Students Awards for her commitment to mentorship of Master's level thesis candidates and supporting graduate research. Dr. Kulkarni earned her doctoral degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015 with the support of the School of Education Arvil S. Barr Teacher Education Fellowship. She was also inducted into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society that same year.

Kisha McPherson

Kisha McPherson is a faculty member in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Centennial College in Toronto, researching and teaching courses in the fields of cultural studies, media and social justice. Kisha is currently pursuing a PhD in the Faculty of Education at York University, focusing the impact of media and contemporary representations of Blackness and development of identity, perceptions, and well-being of Black girls. Kisha’s latest project Akeelah’s Room is an online platform developed for and creatively led by Black girls to address the limited and misrepresentations of Black women and girls online.

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez is an assistant professor of elementary social studies in the School of Education at Iowa State University. Her research interests include the teaching of difficult and traditionally marginalized histories to young learners, broadening conceptualizations of citizenship, and the educational experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Midwest. Prior to this role, she was a bilingual educator in Texas for nine years.

Abigail Rombalski

Peace, my name is Abby (she/her/hers). Abby Rombalski is a Ph.D. candidate focusing on critical literacy in the Department of Education, Curriculum, and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. She taught in public urban or alternative secondary schools for 15 years. At UMN, she is also part time faculty, teaching in urban education and serving as program lead for English Education. As a parent and a community organizer, Abby aims for public and participatory scholarship that centers and supports youth in interracial contact zones working within and against white supremacist systems. @abbyrombalski

2018 Curriculum Inquiry Faculty Mentors

Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández, University of Toronto

Korina Jocson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Lance T. McCready,  University of Toronto

Federico R. Waitoller, University of Illinois at Chicago

2018 Curriculum Inquiry Editorial Board

Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández (Editor-in-Chief)

Neil Ramjewan (Editor), Christy Guthrie (Associate Editor), Elena Toukan (Associate Editor), Jason Brennan (Assistant Editor), Lucy El-Sherif (Assistant Editor), Jacqueline Scott (Assistant Editor), James Miles (Assistant Editor)

Gabrielle de Montmollin (Editorial Assistant)