HAEd Membership Team Open Positions

We are currently recruiting for the following global and local positions. Please note that Harvard Alumni for Education is a volunteer organization and all positions are unpaid. To apply for one of these positions, please email harvardaed@gmail.com with the title of the position you are interested in, your CV, and a brief description of (1) why you want the position, (2) your prior relevant experience, (3) what you hope to accomplish in the position.

Social Media Manager

The Social Media Manager generates, manages, and curates content for existing and future social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, and email list serves. This Manager is responsible for coordinating with the Director of Communications and Marketing to take advantage of all messaging opportunities (i.e. upcoming conferences, events, etc.). Approximate time commitment 3-5 hours per month.

Director of Chapters

The Director of Chapters (DOC) shall assist the Leadership Team in the recruiting and vetting of new Chapter co-President candidates; assist in the onboarding of new Chapter co-Presidents; and provide assistance to Chapter co-Presidents as needed. The DOC will assist the Director of Membership in tracking membership growth across HAEd Chapters, and propose strategies for growing existing Chapters’ membership base. Approximate time commitment 5-8 hours per month.

Co-Chair, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, and China Chapter

As a co-chair of an HAEd Regional Chapter, you would oversee communications with, recruitment of, and support for HAEd members in India. Co-chairs oversee the organization of a minimum of 4 annual events in their geographies. We also encourage recording at least one podcast episode for the SIG and posting at least one blog post per event on the HAEd blog. One of the events would include staffing a table at the biannual Global Networking Nights (January 2020).  Additional events could include a panel and/or streaming an Askwith Forum. We encourage Chapter co-chairs to work closely with the Clubs in their geographies, in order to co-sponsor/co-brand events in order to increase visibility and awareness of the HAEd brand. Please note that due to the state of the pandemic all events are being held online. Approximate time commitment 3-5 hours per month.

Undergraduate Student Liaison

The Undergraduate Student Liaison shall keep the Executive Committee up-to-date on the activities of the undergraduate student organizations with related missions, establish and/or facilitate connections between the SIG and related undergraduate student organizations, organize at least one on-campus event per calendar year, coordinate outreach efforts to Harvard students and perform other duties
as assigned by the Executive Committee or President. Approximate time commitment 2-3 hours per month.

Graduate Student Liaison

The Graduate Student Liaison shall keep the Executive Committee up-to-date on the activities of the graduate student organizations with related missions, establish and/or facilitate connections between the SIG and related graduate student organizations, organize at least one on-campus event per calendar year, coordinate outreach efforts to Harvard students and perform other duties as assigned by the Executive Committee or President. Approximate time commitment 2-3 hours per month.

Radical Hope for the Chinese Children--A Trauma-Informed Education for all

by Shu Cao Mo HGSE EdM ’15 and Zijun Wang 

PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, affects many people, and children in particular, are most vulnerable to trauma. In China, millions of children have been victims of sexual assault. Those who are exposed to chronic trauma suffer the impact of subsequent trauma, leading to longer-term health issues. Given the rise of domestic violence during the overall high stress environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the recent high-profile case on child sexual abuse, HAEd Greater China Chapter’s Co-Chairs Weiqi Zhang (HC BA ‘10) and Shu Cao Mo (HGSE EdM ‘15) decided to use the occasion of International Children’s Holiday in China to host a virtual conference on PTSD and Sexual Health Education. The conference was co-organized with Splash Institute, a community health imitative that aims to destigmatize trauma and pleasure in female sexuality, and sponsored by Global Changemakers, a nonprofit based in Switzerland. 

Dr. Aldrich Chan, clinical neuropsychologist and founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness (CNC) based in Miami, gave a keynote address that offered an introduction to PTSD and the impact of trauma on the brain. Based in Hawaii, Singaporean musician and storyteller Jasmine Chin (HGSE AIE 16’) harnessed the power of stories, inspiring the audience to reflect on collective cultural trauma. The conference ended with a workshop on Sexual Health Education by Nicole Inglis, a health promotion facilitator on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion team for Alberta Health Services based in Alberta, Canada. 

Here we’ve selected some key points to share with the Harvard Alumni for Education community:

You can’t just let the sleeping dogs lie Trauma doesn’t go away when those who have suffered ignore, forget or even push the original traumatic event away. When children repress traumatic memories, their brain structures—affected and molded by past experiences—will still dictate their PTSD behaviors, driven by their nonconscious memory. Some cultures place a high value on social harmony and trauma is not openly discussed. It is critical for people living in these cultures to seek help from mental health professionals. In almost every PTSD study, hyperactivity is found in the amygdala, part of the sympathetic nervous system which activates the fight and flight mode in our bodies. Psychotherapy allows these individuals to heal the damage in the hippocampus and amygdala by developing different interpretations and reducing the negative emotional impact associated with the experience.  

In general, symptoms of PTSD include Intrusions, Avoidance, Hyperarousal and Negative Mood and Cognitions. These individuals experience high incidences of violence, abuse, relational difficulties and suicide in later life. To suffer from PTSD does not necessarily require past physical or sexual trauma: emotional trauma such as neglect can cause an equal amount of disorder on the brain. The brain structure and function are damaged to varying degrees based on the impact of trauma. 

Dr. Chan shared different medical interventions with the audience, from psychosomatic therapies to the latest Stellate Ganglion Block. One account described curing a male patient of sexual abuse PTSD and how the process of re-balancing the nervous system takes time and patience. He concluded with a discussion of his current research focus on the Default Mode Network, which has the potential for effective diagnosis and intervention strategies of PTSD in the near future. 

Storytelling gives me my power back How to face trauma in the immediate loss of one’s power? Jasmine Chin (HGSE EdM‘15) comes from a family lineage of hardy Hakka women, who did not bind their feet and fought alongside men as warriors. However, as a child in school and at home, she had grown accustomed to remaining silent so as to be liked and to escape the shame of disapproving authority figures around her. Jasmin Chin shared the story of how she moved courageously from the horror of a silenced and devastating experience to regaining her voice and strength in her early adulthood. She wielded her superpower of a caring personality to fight for justice, with the aspiration of preventing future gender-based violence.  

Below is the sharing of her story’s final chapter. 

“It’s been exactly 9 years since I first told this story, and I’m still telling it today. I’ve told it so many times, in so many ways, but it always makes me feel vulnerable, heartbroken, outraged, and empowered altogether.It sees and listens to The Child.It heals and believes The Survivor.It breaks and strengthens The Warrior.This is The Power of storytelling, not just for me, but for all of us.”

After watching Jasmine’s performance, the audience was left with a sense of “awe,” “catharsis,” and feelings of “swirling powerful” (quoted directly from the audience). One audience member even said: “you have been kissed by pain in your life, and as a response, you sing songs to it.” 

It’s important for parents to talk early about sex with their children 

Sexual health education expert Nicole Inglis, who has taught at public and religious schools in Calgary, Canada, framed her workshop around the following questions: Why do we need to talk about sex and sexuality at home? What do we talk about? How do we talk about it? Children begin touching their genitals as early as four-years-old. It’s a result of natural curiosity, feel-good sensations as well as about our inherent sexuality as humans. Moreover, since modern day media is so saturated with sex, the question of sex inevitably comes up between children and their caregivers. Studies have shown that when children receive good sexual education, they start having sex at a later age, have fewer partners, and are less likely to contract Sexually Transmitted diseases. 

She emphasized the importance of knowledge in reducing shame around sexual health education and in sexual violence prevention. Nicole Inglis told the story of a child going through physical changes before learning anything about what happens during puberty, and that she got so terrified thinking that she might have developed breast cancer. Many girls, if they do not receive any sexuality education, think that they are dying when they see that they start bleeding. The emotional and social changes that accompany physical changes are equally massive.  

Nicole Inglis also warned current and prospective parents of the danger of not using correct names when teaching children about their private body parts. She shared a sad incident from her own teacher training workshop where a female student of one of her trainees had a few years earlier disclosed being sexually abused by her uncle, but since she couldn’t find the proper word for her private parts, the teacher had missed the incident and failed to take any follow-up action. 

The key in sexual health education is for parents to be open to sex-related conversations, which include, but are not limited to: for whom pornography is made; what age-appropriate sexual behavior means; how family religious tradition influences sex. Instead of making sex conversation with their children into one big thing, parents should catch little teachable moments in life to inform and enlighten children about sexual health over the years.

After the conference, HAEd Greater China Chapter and Splash Institute created WeChat discussion groups that enable participants to have ongoing interactions around the topic. If you are interested in being part of the conversation, please reach out to Shu Cao (shucao@splash-institute.org) or Zijun (zijun@splash-institute.org).   

The Elements of Education

by Austin Volz HGSE EdM ‘13 and Julia Higdon HGSE EdM ‘12 and EdD ‘15, Staff, Avenues Research and Development 

Education in general and teaching in particular involve significant complexity. They require navigating not only the complex science of how we learn, but also questions around such things as motivation, self-esteem, and preparing for an uncertain future. The Elements of Education is a concise toolkit to help navigate this difficult terrain. In the 50 chapters ranging from Self Assessment to Project Based Learning and from Intelligence to Direct Instruction, educators can find an introduction to the concept, one recommendation for further reading, practical Dos and Don’ts as well as a choice quote to inspire reflection. Each element is a short, but information rich, two pages. 

As many are adapting their instruction and operations in response to COVID-19 measures, we want to remind teachers to focus on the foundation of how we learn while adapting to a new medium of instruction. We’ve selected three elements here to share with the Harvard Alumni for Education community.

Most helpful for teachers: Feedback

Feedback is one of the most important things that teachers do to help students learn. However, it can be burdensome, for teachers and students, and much of it is ineffective. What type of feedback is best and what amount of feedback is best?

While taxonomies of feedback abound, there are essentially two types of feedback: directive and facilitative. Through directive feedback, we provide concrete information to students and through  facilitative feedback, we provide hints. The best type of feedback to provide depends on the difficulty of the task, the type of task, and the level and motivation of the student. Use directive feedback when the task is difficult, involves factual or procedural knowledge, when students are novices, or when they lack motivation at that moment. Deliver directive feedback as quickly as possible to build or sustain momentum. Use facilitative feedback when the task is relatively easy, involves transfer of concepts students have mastered to new contexts, involves abstract or metacognitive goals, when students are advanced, or when they have high motivation at that moment. Deliver facilitative feedback after a delay to allow students a chance to think first. Giving hints when a student is unmotivated, facing a difficult task, or learning something procedural can be frustrating and inefficient. Giving an answer when a student is motivated, advanced, or working on transferring knowledge from one context to another can be frustrating and demoralizing. Using the best type of feedback for the learner and the learning goals at hand can save a lot of irritation. 

In both types of feedback, less is more. This should come as good news to the teachers who’ve stayed up all night writing feedback. Your goal when providing feedback is to give one or two pieces of information, or one or two hints, to allow students to take the next step in their learning. Copious or tangential feedback is a burden to produce and usually ignored.

Most surprising: Sleep Strategies

One of the biggest contributors to learning happens outside of school: sleep. As children enter their teenage years, their circadian rhythms change so that they are inclined to go to sleep later and wake up later as well. This change is called sleep phase delay. The table below shows the average length of sleep as well as wakeup and sleep times at different ages.  

AGE (years)  |  DURATION (hours)   |  AVERAGE WAKE and SLEEP TIMES 

3–5                 |                  11.5                 |                     7:00 am–7:30 pm 

6–13                 |                    10                 |                    7:30 am–9:30 pm 

14–17               |                    9           |                 8:45 am–11:30 pm 

18–25           |                  8                 |                     8:30 am–12:30 am 

26–64         |                    8                 |                     7:30 am–11:30 pm 

64+                  |                    7.5           |                       6:45 am–12:15 am 

For teenagers and college-aged students, a school start time that is before 9:30am can result in significant drowsiness. In contrast, the effect of school start times after 9:30am has such a benefit that it is  comparable to replacing a highly ineffective teacher with a highly effective teacher. While the logistical complexities of later start times should not be underestimated, setting an appropriate start time for teenagers and college students is one of the most overlooked ways to promote learning.

Most likely to change: Transfer

Transfer is at the heart of education. The goal is that students will be able to apply what they learn in class on Thursday afternoon to the situations they encounter outside school on Saturday evening. That is exactly what transfer means: the ability to transfer what is learned in one context to another, dissimilar context. Typically positive transfer is classified in two ways: near transfer for when the two contexts are similar (e.g. using the same reading comprehension strategies on two different texts) and far transfer for when the two contexts are not very similar (e.g. using the formula to calculate the volume of a cylinder to estimate the volume of a stadium). 

The important thing to know about transfer is that it doesn’t just happen. As educators, we cannot assume that students’ practice on worksheets will automatically transfer to the world outside of school. More likely than not, it won’t. However, there are three main strategies you can use to help promote transfer.

1. Vary problem types- What is the best way to ensure that students transfer their learning outside of school? Provide them with opportunities to apply their learning in authentic contexts. For example, incorporate presentations to non-school audiences and design problems that resemble real-world applications. The greater the variety, the more likely transfer will occur.

2. Call out deep structures- Highlighting deep structures that apply across contexts and disciplines encourage students to bring their understanding to novel problems. For example, by calling out the difference between correlation and causation, students will be prepared to understand the concept across different sources of evidence and in different subjects.

3. Use analogies to bridge understanding- Analogies and metaphors can help students transfer their learning from one context to another context by providing a familiar bridge. For example, by using the analogous structure of the circulatory system when learning about traffic flows, students are more able to transfer learning to better understand the structure of similar systems.  

The current concept of transfer depends on measuring the similarity between different contexts. As the research continues to develop, we suspect that we’ll see more sophisticated ways to measure different contexts and a deeper understanding of what teaching strategies best promote transfer.

3/50

The above are just a selection of 3 elements out of the 50 that are in our book. Education progress occurs not through educators adhering to one single approach, but through the ability to select the best tool for the job based on the best available evidence. If you’re hungry for more, the book is a good place to start. Feel free to reach out to Austin (austin.volz@avenues.org) or Julia (julia.higdon@aveues.org) with thoughts, insights, or questions.

The Knowledge Society: Olympic Level Innovation Training for Teenagers

By Michael Raspuzzi, Harvard MDE ‘18

Think back to the first time you were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

For those who answered Olympic-level athletes, such as in swimming, there are local pools to jump in for practice at an early age, and there are plenty of coaches for supporting individuals testing the waters of the sport. Continuing through the first dive in and cultivating a passion for the pursuit of a challenge through competitions forms bonds across like-minded individuals. Repetition over years allows for leveling-up and establishes the basis for developing talent, making it clear by teenage years if an individual is on their way to the Olympic trials or not.

For those who want to cure cancer, in a traditional path, it would take decades for first exposure of practice in a clinical or lab setting. It’s not until the education process is finished and a professional practice begins that students can explore the latest methods of diagnosis and start a path for discovering a new treatment. 

If the answer is scientist, engineer, entrepreneur, or innovator to solve complex problems for kids today, then there is currently little to no support for world-class training. There are no places to practice. There are no coaches to interact with. There is very limited access to like-minded communities for those too young to drive－even though they have an intrinsic drive－which ultimately limits the developing potential for personal passions and ability to problem-solve.  

The Knowledge Society (TKS) is a global accelerator teaching teenagers PhD-level technology and world-class skillsets and mindsets to fill this gap in development. Celebrated as a School of the Future by the World Economic Forum, there are three different 10-month extracurricular programs that are structured around weekly intensive sessions that, like mini hackathons, expose curious teens aged 13 - 17 to different topics and frameworks. Session topics across the three programs include: 

Year 1: Innovate

• Science and technology as potential tools of change (AI, blockchain, gene editing, quantum computing, and more) 

• Mindsets to develop potential (bias to action, antifragility, gratitude, and more)

• Skillsets needed to become a leader (prioritization, collaboration, pitching, and more)  

Year 2: Activate

• Identify and build frameworks to solve the world's biggest problems (climate change, inequality, perinatal mortality, and more) 

• Understand personal development through psychology, philosophy, and mental models (Aristotle, Laozi, Carl Jung, Socrates, and more) 

Year 3: Disrupt 

• Develop knowledge and skills to execute on solving a problem by building a product (design sprints, customer development, UX/UI, marketing, legal, sales, and more) 

Founded three years ago in Toronto by two brothers, Navid and Nadeem Nathoo, TKS has scaled to support programs in five cities, including Boston, where a team of coaches helps guide the kids through the weekend session and weekly practice facilitated by an online learning platform. Curated and published online modules allow for self-directed learning and individualized pacing for content. Students are encouraged to chart their own learning paths through their innovation journey. 

While the internet helps democratize information for those fortunate enough to have access, information alone will not activate the next generation of innovators. Going from zero to one on solving difficult problems requires exploring knowledge across disciplinary silos, developing a focus area of interest for testing thoughtful hypotheses; cultivating skillsets of collaboration and leadership, and ultimately practicing mindsets that support resiliency needed to embrace failure time and time again. 

As problems in the 21st century have evolved to be more complex, the need for cross-disciplinary changemakers is more pressing now than ever before. Harvard has begun to invest in this future of education through its first-ever collaborative program, the Master in Design Engineering, using a design pedagogy for an active learning and project-based curriculum. Master students from different backgrounds in science, technology, design, and consulting work collaboratively to prototype solutions to complex problems. Another example, the MS/MBA Biotechnology, celebrates the importance of individual learning across previously siloed professional learning models for business and technology in order to create the next wave of innovations in the life sciences. 

The TKS programs are structured similarly, where students are encouraged to explore across different topics, work on real-world challenges together, build prototypes testing their ideas, and work to build their polymathic skills. In weekend sessions, they expand their breadth of knowledge and practice different skills. During the week, they increase their depth through building projects, individual mentoring, and the online learning platform. Ensuring the “realness” of the real-world challenges, TKS has global corporate partners who sponsor ongoing problems for real-time consulting challenges for the students. Past challenge partners include Walmart, Airbnb, Google Sidewalk Labs, Techstars, and the Barclays Center.

As a conclusion to the 2019 fall term for the first Boston Innovate cohort, TKS worked with the Harvard Alumni for Education group to co-host a panel on multidisciplinary learning where students shared their projects in a TED talk style stage with an open Q+A panel. With no prerequisites to join TKS, the kids below came in curious and ambitious, and in three months this is what they presented: 

Mikey T., age 16, focused his work in connectomics for understanding digital biomarkers in Schizophrenia.

Nina K., age 13, shared her ongoing work in human longevity, specifically how to use autoencoders to classify mitochondria activity before cells go senescent.

Mukundh M., age 16, presented topics on the intersection of machine learning and RNA sequencing for building the next generation of tools for drug discovery.

Faith I., age 15, talked about her work in metabolomics in adverse childhood reactions understanding how different pathways are activated. 

Amelia S., age 13, discussed projects in space technology for resource mining on asteroids using spectrometers.

Each student is encouraged and empowered to forge their own path through the program. With a like-minded community and weeks of structured practices, they are equipped with the resources to prototype and test out what they want to be before they grow up. TKS provides a platform for them to explore, learn, focus, discover, and embrace failure as they push through uncertainty, spending time to figure out what they want to do and how. 

If you are interested in learning more about TKS, learn more here. For those passionate about the future of education, there are full-time opportunities across Boston, New York City, Toronto, Ottawa, and more listed here. If you know an ambitious and curious teenager who would enjoy the program, applications are open here. 

If you want to learn more or get involved with the TKS Boston program, connect with Michael, the city director, at michael@theksociety.com.

HAEd LA Chapter: Global Networking Night

On January 15, 2020, the LA Chapter of the Harvard Alumni for Education co-hosted Global Networking Night in Los Angeles. This year, there were two separate events – an Eastside and Westside to encourage maximum participation and spare participants some crazy LA traffic!

The Eastside event was held in collaboration with the Pasadena City College. Apart from Harvard alumni, the event also had students from PCC. The event started with an introduction by Dr Gus Frias of the Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance. Chapter leaders of all Special Interest Groups gave a short introduction of the purpose and goals of their SIGs. Christine Gentry, co-chair of the LA Chapter of HAEd and co-chair of the First Gen SIG gave a presentation on First Gen Red Book – a special project that documents the Harvard experience of first generation alumni. Post the presentation, all Harvard Alumni introduced  themselves. The evening ended with structured networking to allow participants to interact with Harvard alumni they might not have met before.

Continuing to learn: My experience with EdX

by Nicole Erb, Director of Chapters

A year ago, after moving across the country for my husband’s career, I found myself with some time on my hands. Because of our move, I had left a high-intensity position in an urban school district, and as I searched for a new job, I wanted to continue my professional development as an education leader. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to find the perfect opportunity.

I don’t remember how I first learned about the edX courses run by the MIT Teaching Systems Lab. For anyone not familiar with edX, it is a platform that enables learners across the globe to participate in online classes led by faculty from a variety of universities. I had never taken an online course, and I wasn’t sure that it would be for me. Two things, however, encouraged me to give it a shot. 1) The course, Competency-Based Education: The Why, What, and How, covered a topic I had been wanting to learn more about. 2) It was led by Justin Reich, who taught one of my classes when I was at HGSE and now leads the MIT Teaching Systems Lab.

From the first day the course opened, I was immediately reminded of how much I love being a student. I eagerly consumed the videos and readings that delved into the complexities surrounding competency-based education, and I equally enjoyed sharing my thoughts and responding to fellow classmates on the forums. In addition, the final assignment allowed me to begin outlining my vision for creating a new high school, which is one of my long-term professional dreams.

By the time the course ended, I had already signed up for the next two available classes: Envisioning the Graduate of the Future and Design Thinking for Leading and Learning. While I found that those courses were slightly less informational than the first class, they both still provided me the opportunity to reflect on my vision for education, explore helpful resources, and connect with educators around the world. After they ended, I couldn’t wait for the next course.

Unfortunately, waiting was inevitable, as the MIT Teaching Systems Lab didn’t have any new offerings last fall. Finally, though, the wait is over, and their next course, Launching Innovation in Schools, starts next week. My current work schedule, while flexible, gives me less free time than I had last year, but I am still looking forward to the class. The best part of the edX courses (aside from being free) is that they allow students the freedom to participate as much or as little as they choose.

Though I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to spend on coursework this round, I am mostly excited to continue learning from other educators who are passionate about education innovation. If you’re interested in joining a discussion group around this topic (whether or not you’re able to take the course), I would love to hear from you! You can reach me (Nicole Erb) at nms790@mail.harvard.edu. To learn more about Launching Innovation in Schools or to register, visit the edX course site.

Launching Last Call ED - a monthly virtual discussion about topics in education

Harvard Alumni for Education is pleased to announce the launch of Last Call ED - a monthly virtual discussion about topics in education. The discussions will include guest speakers from the alumni and Harvard faculty communities on topics including:

• What makes some teachers more effective than others?

• How can we promote tolerance and understanding in our schools?

• What are some creative ways to support underprivileged students?

These monthly moderated discussions will take place online on the last day of the month at varying times to make it possible for individuals in different time zones and with different schedules of availability to participate.

“We are constantly trying to think of ways to provide value to our nearly 3,000 alumni members who are located all over the world and who work in all aspects of the field of education,” said Harvard Alumni for Education president Nell O’Donnell Weber (EdM 2010, EdD 2019). “While we have chapters in several cities across the US and in China, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India where we have concentrations of alumni, not all of our members are served by a local chapter where they can attend in-person events. By offering online events like Last Call ED and discussion and study groups around edX courses, for example, we can help Harvard alumni learn, connect, and grown together, no matter where they are in the world.”

The first Last Call ED event will be held on January 31st at noon EST and will feature Julia Higdon (EdM 2012, EdD 2015) and Austin Volz (EdM 2013) discussion their new book The Elements of Education for Teachers: 50 Research-Based Principles Every Educator Should Know. You can find more details here.

If you would like to suggest a topic or guest speaker for a future Last Call Ed event, please email harvardaed@gmail.com.

Poetry and Podcasts in a Treehouse: Volunteering at 826 Valencia

by Nicole Erb, Director of Chapters

Stepping into the writing center at 826 Valencia is like stepping into a child’s imagination. This isn’t too surprising, given that the organization’s newest location was in fact inspired by students. Before opening their Tenderloin center, 826 Valencia staff asked students for design ideas. The young authors suggested a treehouse with cozy nooks to read and write in, and 826 made it happen, putting their commitment to creativity and student expression on display for everyone who visits.

On a Friday morning in October, I arrived at the treehouse center to volunteer with the Harvard Club of San Francisco for 826’s signature podcasting field trip. During the field trip, students write original poems and record them as podcasts in onsite professional recording booths. If that sounds ambitious for a single day, it is! But this doesn’t stop the 826 Valencia staff, who use their masterful facilitation skills to ensure that every student feels like a poet and a podcaster by the end of the trip.

Though I left the classroom over three years ago, I am still an English teacher at heart, and working with the 5th grade students at my table that day reminded me how much I love mentoring young writers. Students had the option to write an “I Come From” poem or “If I Were in Charge of the World” poem. Both of my students decided to be in charge of the world, and their words captured the poignant truths that so often only come from our youngest thinkers. These students wrote and spoke about giving everyone a home, protecting the environment, canceling violence, and celebrating kindness. Those who are in charge of the world could learn a thing or two from these poets.

If you would like to hear more of the students’ ideas, you can listen to the 826 Valencia podcasts here.

A national writing organization, 826 offers opportunities for individuals and groups to volunteer at their local chapters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, New Orleans, Ann Arbor/Detroit, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston. Check them out at https://826national.org. 

Introducing Brittany Knight, Chapter Co-Chair, Detroit

Name - Brittany Knight

• Degree/graduating year - MEd - Higher Education, 2016

• Location - Kalamazoo, MI

• HAEd position - Detroit, Michigan Chapter Co-Chair

• Current job - Executive Director, The Joyce Ivy Foundation

• 3 fun facts - 1.) Lost my last baby tooth on a college visit to Duke; 2.) Moved seven times before starting high school; 3.) Majored in Mandarin Chinese

• Why did you join HAEd? I joined HAEd to find a local community of people who are committed to education who I could collaborate with and learn from.

• What do you hope to achieve through HAEd? I hope to bring together individuals who are passionate about education so that together we can increase our collective impact!

• How did you get involved in education? I serendipitously found my way to a career in higher education. After college, my first job was working at a boutique investment bank in Burlington, VT. It was not at all for me and after about one year, I started the hunt for a new job. While I was still working at the investment bank, I began to volunteer with my alma mater, Middlebury College, by interviewing prospective high school students. I LOVED being able to connect with students, learn about their passions, and help to guide them in their post-high school thinking. Knowing that I was local in Vermont, the volunteer coordinator at the Middlebury Admissions Office reached out to let me know that there was an opening in the office. It was around that same time that I had recently quit my job at the investment bank. The timing could not have been more perfect and I started as an Admissions Counselor within two weeks. The rest is history!

• What is something that inspires you? In my current role, I work closely with high school women who are pursuing pre college summer learning opportunities. These young women inspire me every day with their curiosity, drive, intellect, and courage! They are the next generation of female leadership.

• What is the most memorable experience you remember from your time at Harvard? I absolutely loved connecting with my cohort at Harvard, both in and outside of the classroom. Many of them are my closest friends and I know I can always pick up the phone to chat about anything...education or anything else!

• What advice do you have for other Harvard alumni? Keep doing the great work you're doing! The opportunity to attend a place like Harvard is a privilege and my hope is that we can all use this privilege to make the world around us a little better.

Introducing Hetal Jani, Chapter Co-Chair, NYC

We are profiling new members of the HAEd team, including three new co-chairs of our New York City chapter. Stay tuned for more introductions. If you would like to join the leadership team, please see open positions here.

Name: Hetal Jani

• Degree/graduating year - Ed.M 2012

• Location - New York City

• HAEd position - Chapter Co-Chair

• Current job - Founding Executive Director of SPEAK Mentorship

• 3 fun facts - For my 33th birthday, I volunteered to take care of pandas at a rehabilitation center near Chengdu, China. I can speak 6 languages. I'm a trained Indian classical dancer and love dancing to Bollywood music! =)

• Why did you join HAEd? I joined HAEd to collaborate with other educators to improve education for all our students. Ensuring our children get a relevant and quality education so they can successfully lead us into our future is so incredibly important. This important work requires a community like HAEd, a community of leaders in education preparing our children for a bright future.

• What do you hope to achieve through HAEd? I was looking for a community of dedicated leaders in education driving forward best practices and innovation in education. I know that HAEd will be a community of supportive and inspirational individuals working together to bring the best ideas forward into the world of education. Through the incredible network of HAEd, I know education will be more innovative and work for the students of today.

• How did you get involved in education? It was actually a friend who had been tutoring a student when she was a senior in high school that got me involved in education. She passed her job on to me because she was going away to college. I was 16 and my first student, Elizabeth, was going into the fifth grade at the age of 10. What Elizabeth taught me at that age about myself, teaching me patience in explaining concepts, using different approaches to teach so that she better understood the content, and the importance of making learning engaging and relevant for the learner was so incredibly powerful. I fell in love with education and the impact I could have as an educator because of Elizabeth. I'm lucky I get to do work that I love every day.

• What is something that inspires you? Children. They just make me happy. I love their curiosity and their bright-eyed view of the world inspires me.

• What is the most memorable experience you remember from your time at Harvard? It's hard to pick just one moment because the whole experience was made incredible because of my peers and my professors, building relationships with so many amazing individuals across the entire university. I was constantly inspired, learning, and developing. As a result, I worked hard to make sure I also served as source of support for my peers. For this, I was humbled to receive the HGSE Intellectual Contribution & Faculty Tribute award, which was truly memorable.

• What advice do you have for other Harvard alumni? It's incredible what we can accomplish when we work together because of all the resources we have access to from the Harvard network. Collaboration is key and we can really achieve a lot as a connected community.

Introducing William Kwok, Chapter Co-Chair, NYC

Full name:

William Kwok 

Degree/Graduating Year:

DCE ALM '07

Location:

New York, NY

Position on HAEd: 

HAEd New York Co-Chair

Current role or job: 

President of Martial Arts Education Society;

Headmaster of Gotham Martial Arts School

3 Fun Facts:

• My only sibling is 14 years younger than I am.

• Since I don’t drink alcohol, my “happy hours” include academic studies, martial arts teaching, and my family time.

• I photograph myself in the same martial arts kicking pose at different world landmarks.

Why did you join HAEd?

I have always had a passion for education. My father was a professor of physical education so I spent most of my childhood on a college campus. In recent years, I started a non-profit organization called Martial Arts Education Society with the mission of “bringing self-discipline and hope back to our communities.” I also began taking graduate courses in education and designed a martial arts-inspired social-emotional learning (SEL) program named Martial Mind for elementary schools. Since I do not have prior experience working in K-12 education, HAEd provides a great channel for me to meet and work with alumni who also have a passion for improving education. Being part of the HAEd team has been an enjoyable learning experience.

What do you hope to achieve through HAEd?

Today, our children live in a fast-paced, accessible world due to the wonders of modern technology and the influence of social media. Many tend to focus heavily on a fast-track lifestyle and instant gratification. I hope the elite group of educators at HAEd will act as a conduit to improve and expand Martial Mind. As a positive outcome of this program, we hope that children will become more focused, self-disciplined, and respectful of others. With a sound mind and healthy body, children will have better social-emotional skills to navigate this complicated world.

How did you get involved in education?

My first official position as an educator was to serve as an adjunct professor in business studies. This experience motivated me to become a professional martial arts educator in 2007. However, my passion for education stemmed from Sir Ken Robinson’s insightful TED talks and books in the last few years. I find his background as an arts educator quite interesting. As Sir Robinson depicts in his book Creative Schools, art education and physical education have been overlooked and have a lower status in mainstream academia. As a martial arts educator and the son of a physical education professor, I hope to learn more about the educational system and contribute to the system in a meaningful way. Sir Robinson’s work has motivated me to pursue graduate studies in education and evolve martial arts education. It is proven that martial arts education can benefit both children and adults in many different ways including critical thinking, perseverance, and physical health. It could be an added value to the balanced curriculum Sir Robinson presented in Creative Schools. 

What is something that inspires you?

Teaching is the highest form of learning! The growth of my students enriches my life. Their improvement, physically and mentally, inspires me to become a better educator. Their curiosity always challenges me and makes me reflect and refine my own practice. As a mentor, I delight in witnessing the evolution of children and young adults as they become more responsible and respectful members of their communities. Their hard work, discipline, and confidence will serve as an example to others.

What is the most memorable experience you remember from your time at Harvard?

My research experience with my thesis director, the late Professor Philip Kuhn, was the hallmark of my time at Harvard. His unflagging enthusiasm, bountiful insights, and continuous encouragement made this process a cherished experience. His mentorship enabled me to cultivate a “black belt” attitude towards my research. He set me on a path of what it means to be a scholar. I will always remember Professor Kuhn as a man of generosity, courtesy, and integrity.

What advice do you have for other Harvard alumni? 

Be bold, be innovative, be persistent, and flexible! Don’t be afraid of criticism. This simple formula has served me well in my life and that of my students. Behind all success, there is an incredible amount of hard work, perseverance, and belief in the goals that we set. Harvard is one big intellectual ecosystem. We are always here to support one another and serve as a beacon of innovation to the educational community.

Introducing Rana Arshed Hafiz, Chapter Co-Chair, NYC

We are profiling new members of the HAEd team, including three new co-chairs of our New York City chapter. Stay tuned for more introductions. If you would like to join the leadership team, please see open positions here.

Name: Rana Arshed Hafiz

• Degree/graduating year: Ed.M School Leadership- 2013

• Location: CT/ NY

• HAEd position: NY co-chair

• Current job: Chair Middle School Mathematics, City School District of New Rochelle

• 3 fun facts: Have recently launched my own podcast, learned to knit and taken up a job in NY

• Why did you join HAEd?: To collaborate with other alums for change in our secondary schools

• What do you hope to achieve through HAEd?: Connect research and practice to bring innovation in secondary schools

• How did you get involved in education?: Have always been involved in education- both my parents were engaged in education and health services for minorities

• What is something that inspires you?: Knowing that a group of like minded people can bring about large scale change with persistence

• What is the most memorable experience you remember from your time at Harvard?: Connecting with diverse thinkers

• What advice do you have for other Harvard alumni?: It is what you do with your education that matters most.

Each One Teach One: Note to Self from Claudia Bach

The Boston/Cambridge Chapter of Harvard Alumni for Education hosted an Each One Teach One event on 5/16 in Boston. The five speakers shared very moving stories of what they've learned in their journeys. We've asked speakers to share their speeches and some words of wisdom for the HAEd Blog, and will be posting them over the next several weeks.

First, here is Note to Self from Claudia Bach:

Good Evening.  My thanks for this opportunity to Harvard Alumni for Education, OZY EDU, First Generation Harvard Alumni and the HGSE Office of Development and Alumni Relations.  

Perhaps some of you have seen the segment “Note to Self” on CBS’s Morning News Show.  The notes are from older people, at the end of their career, to their younger selves. Mostly notes of encouragement and advice.  So, I’ve written such a note that I want to share with you this evening. My Note to Self. The date is May, 1994:

Dear Claudia,

Today is one of the biggest days of your life.  You are graduating with your Ed.D. from the Urban Superintendents Program (USP) at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.  Wow. You! One of your childhood friends will soon say to you, “I am so proud of you,” and you are moved, because they are words your parents would have said had they still been living, as you are the first doctor in your extended family.

As a member of USP, a program designed specifically to prepare women and people of color for the highest leadership positions in public education, you are the only Caucasian woman in your cohort. What you don’t know now is that diversity, equity and inclusion will become central to your work throughout your career.

What you do know today, is how hard you have worked to earn your Ed.D.  Courses like micro-economics and advanced statistics were daunting, and the term you took six courses almost undid you, and you weren’t sure you could make it through. Yet, you discovered that not only was your admission into USP not a mistake, the Program did everything possible to ensure your success, and everyone else in your cohort.  

Your 6-month internship with Superintendent Rudy Crew in Sacramento, was at times frightening, but also exhilarating, as he insisted you do the real work of a superintendent, and so directed you to create a public charter school and to negotiate and settle with the unions both the custodial and teachers contracts.  

What you don’t know now is that at every single course you have taken here will give you the knowledge and know-how to deal with the complex issues you will encounter. Every single course. There will be no problems for which you will be unprepared, and there will be few surprises.

But to become a superintendent (having come from a totally different work experience), will be your first huge challenge after graduation.  You will submit dozens and dozens of applications to districts all over the country without success. You will hit bottom, wondering if your fancy degree was worth it after all.  But don’t despair. You will prevail, and after an entire year, you will get your first superintendency, thanks to Rudy Crew who will have vouched for your potential, and for the constant encouragement and support from your cohort.

USP has taught you something even more important – though you may not yet realize it –and that is the necessity to lead with courage and truth-telling.  These two qualities will become your lodestars for the really tough decisions. You will fire a very popular principal whom you discover deliberately targets Latino students to find ways to expel them or push them to drop out of school.  Shortly after, you will be brought to tears when a board member who knows you have put your job on the line says to you, “Tell me about courage.” Years later, you will hear the Kennedy School’s Ronald Heifetz, say that the superintendency of America’s public schools is the most dangerous and complex CEO job in America.  And you will agree.

And finally, you will discover Harvard really is the gift that keeps giving, providing opportunities to teach here, to mentor grad students, to serve on the alumni council, to be a part of the program today.  You gladly will serve when requested, because you will want to pay forward. You will say, over and over, Harvard changed your life profoundly, giving you the unbelievable opportunity to serve our nation’s most important resource – the children of our public schools.  You, Claudia, are off to a wonderful adventure. So get going. But hang on tight!

With love, your older self (May 16, 2019)

Claudia L. Bach, Ed.D, ‘94

Claudia currently works as a consultant for Empower Success Corps (ESC) and is a Fellow of Encore Fellowships in Greater Boston. She conducts workshops in Adaptive Leadership for ESC and Encore, and serves as a coach for the Encore Prize initiative. In 2015-16 she completed a fellowship at Education Pioneers, and has been a member of the EP’s Alumni Board in Boston since 2016. She has more than 30 years in the education sector, most recently as Superintendent of Schools in Andover Massachusetts, and Director of Educator Excellence at the MA Elementary and Secondary Department of Education.  In 1994 she earned her doctorate at HGSE in the Urban Superintendents Program. For 2 years she was a Lecturer on Education at HGSE, teaching a course entitled Managing Negotiations. She now serves on the HGSE Alumni Council, is a SAMI mentor for graduate students, and an alumni interviewer for Harvard College admissions. For 8 years she has served as a Trustee at Pike School, an independent preK-9 school in Andover, MA. She is a founding member of Andover Tomorrow, a citizen’s initiative to bolster sustainable economic development in Andover.

What will the 21st century Education hold for us?

By Dr. Crystal Roe

In December 2018 HAEd in Boston hosted a compelling event together with Techii, Harvard Graduate Business Club at the Harvard Science Center to examine cutting edge inventions and innovations that are shaping the future of education entitled 21st Century in Education. This was a panel discussion style moderated by Dr. Crystal Rose and Emily Pope, Co-Leaders of HAEd Boston and featured three cutting edge guests sharing their educational technologies and a neuroscientist from MIT Media Lab. Very often we may wonder about what the future of education in the EdTech space will entail. It is also fascinating to have a sneak peak at cutting edge technologies as well as the research which will have the ability to transform learning as well as the educational experience in the 21st century. We had access to all of these at this event. Not only did we learn directly from founders and developers of these technologies, we also listened to a world renowned scientist who shared about how we learn and ways to improve upon the learning process. 

The first speaker was a doctoral candidate and well respected neuroscientist, Alexandra Rieger of MIT Media Lab who walked us through newly published research underlying the multi sensory learning process and how educators and students alike may improve upon the teaching and learning experience. Next we got to hear from Dr. Dee Kanejiya, CEO of Cognii. Cognii has won multiple awards including National Science Foundation Award as this technology leverages AI technology to the benefit the education and training industries. Cognii is billed as the leading provider of individualized as well as adaptive AI instruction as it is able to decipher open ended questions and lead the user on a path to mastery of any given subject. It was exciting to learn about this technology which makes learning and education more accessible and hopefully more affordable in the long run. Next on the panel was the Co-Founder and developer Brandon Zararoff of an EdTech company by the name of eBlocks Learning. This program is focused on toddlers to prepare them for Kindergarten and uses wearable technologies as well as sensors in a variety of play-based learning applications such as blocks, puzzles and toys so that parents can see their child’s progress which is interpreted by leading researchers in early childhood development. Imagine looking at the dashboard which displays how your child is playing and acquiring skills in a variety of learning situations! This is something that may seem far fetched now but guaranteed in the future, preschools will be sure to offer this as one of their services to keep parents informed as to their child’s development when they are away from them. 

You may find pictures of the event on the Techii Facebook page here. And thanks to Emily Pope also did a twitter takeover on the HAEd twitter page, feel free to retweet and comment. We really appreciate it. Also, if you have any questions about this event or others, feel free to email us at haedboston@gmail.com.

HAEd-LA Picnic with the First Generation SIG

On Saturday, May 4th, the LA Chapter of Harvard Alumni for Education co-hosted a picnic with First-Generation Harvard Alumni LA and the Harvard Club of Southern California at Elysian Park in Los Angeles. 47 people RSVPed, with 20 humans and two dogs in attendance. :)

The hosts provided beverages and guests brought their own food and picnic blankets. Folks formed a large circle of blankets as they arrived, with a trove of snacks available for sharing in the middle. One person brought treats from a French bakery, another brought pastries from Chinatown, and one even brought hand-cut watermelon for all to enjoy. 

Guests mingled with each other, with conversations about traveling, pets, work, and family. In the late afternoon, some guests went home while others explored the hiking trails of Elysian Park, eventually finding the famous "Secret Swing" with panoramic views of the city! A good time was had by all.

Diversity and Divinity

Education takes place in many forms. Today we can Google or YouTube just about anything we are interested in learning more about. I have done several religious studies taking me to Europe and Asia, but I’ve never quite been able to apply the practices I observed to my life. I went in search of some ways that sacred texts are looked at through diverse lenses and what I found would be beyond anything I could imagine. Some Harvard Alumni had gotten together to look at the Harry Potter series as a sacred text and created a podcast that looked at different sections of the books through diverse religious practices. I wanted to take a moment and spotlight what the folks from Harry Potter and the Sacred Text are doing as an example of the diverse work Harvard Alumni are doing.

Vanessa Zoltan, a Co-Host, wrote to us about the project.

“Since I graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 2015 I have been working on treating the Harry Potter series as a sacred text. First, my co-host, Casper ter Kuile and I gathered people on Wednesday nights for a class. It ran like a bible study. Only we weren't using the bible; we were using a book almost as popular; Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. After going through all seven books, using Judeo-Christian spiritual practices, blessing characters and inviting people in our class to give sermons about a boy-wizard, we launched a podcast. Harry Potter & the Sacred Text launched in May of 2016. We now have about a million downloads a month and 27 groups meet all over the world to treat the Harry Potter books as if they were sacred.  

This whole project is based on the idea that the most important part of treating a text as sacred is the community. You need people who show up and say, 'yes, I also think that this is sacred." You need a gym buddy, who you go to class for because you don't want to disappoint them. You need someone who will hold your hand when you start crying, because Harry's mom coming back from the dead makes you realize how much you miss your mom. 

 These groups have nearly nothing to do with us. Some meet weekly, others monthly. They are started by fans of the Harry Potter series who feel as though they have been given a vocabulary to do something that they were already doing with midnight release parties, traditions of rereading certain books on certain anniversaries and tattooing, "lumos", onto their bodies. 

The Harry Potter books are both uniquely qualified to speak to the searching parts of us and are in no way necessary for the work that we are doing. Our new project will be about treating Romance novels as if they are sacred. But also, "Hufflepuff" is a beautiful sort of Shibboleth in this time of separation. “

If you are interested in finding out more about about this Harvard Divinity School Alumna's work check out their website at http://harrypottersacredtext.com/ or if you are interested in joining them on an adventure, they have some pilgrimages through the lens of different texts (Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice) which you can read about at https://www.readingandwalkingwith.com/

HA Ed India Retreat: KFI Study Center

“Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem,” wrote J.Krishnamurthi, the well-known Indian education philosopher, who lived from 1895 to 1986 and founded a number of progressive schools in India.

On September 22nd and 23rd, Harvard alumni in education gathered together at The Valley School, one of the schools founded by J.Krishnamurthi. On the outskirts of Bangalore, nestled amidst a verdant forest, The Valley School and its attached study center is a perfect place for a retreat. Walking into the beautiful campus, with its lush greenery and its range of colorful birds, I could feel myself relaxing and recovering from the hectic noise and traffic of Bangalore.

We began the retreat on Saturday evening with a moderated session on “What we see as the central problem in education.” Although we initially located the problem outside of ourselves – our exam-oriented school systems, the mindsets of teachers and parents, the lack of engagement and deep learning in classrooms across the country – the conversation eventually turned inwards. Perhaps we had to start by questioning our own conditioning, by thinking about ourselves as educators. True to the Krishnamurthi philosophy, we explored the questions instead of the answers. Sunday began with meditation and a nature walk, followed by moderated sessions about what makes a meaningful education.

While the moderated sessions were very interesting and thought provoking, for me the most exciting part of the retreat were the informal conversations with other HA Ed members. On Saturday night, after our session, we ate dinner together and stayed up late talking about the inequities in our education system, the responsibilities that come with our own privileges, and the contradictions and paradoxes we all live with every day.  It was a wonderful way to get to know other HA Ed members -- not through superficial social talk but through rich and layered conversations about issues that we all wrestle with.

The HA Ed India chapter’s mission is to help alumni form deep and meaningful relationships with each other around our shared commitment to education – this certainly seemed to happen at our retreat!

Building a World of Understanding and Equity through Education and Intercultural Communications

Liz Grossman, Ed.M. ’13

We are happy to spotlight HAEd member, Liz Grossman Ed.M. ’13. Liz Grossman is a social entrepreneur passionate about promoting equitable collaboration between the United States and Africa. She helps leaders, nonprofits, companies and academic institutions build inclusive programs, share stories and scale their impact through strategic communications, branding, facilitation and training.

With my eleventh grade students who organized United Nations Day at school, October 2011.

I started my career as a high school teacher in Dakar, Senegal in 2009. The bilingual school, owned by a Swiss couple, hired at least four American teachers every year fresh out of college to teach alongside a majority Senegalese faculty, staff and student body. I experienced the need for educators to understand the cultural contexts of one’s colleagues, students, bosses and parents in order to succeed. I learned the importance of delivering your messages based on the receiver, not on the preconceived notions of the sender.

This job encouraged me to do my masters in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education from 2012-2013, putting my micro level classroom experience into a macro framework that intersects education, communications and social entrepreneurship. One of my biggest takeaways in the program was those who make policy drive society, and if they do not understand and respect cultural nuances, programs and policies will fail. Policymakers must be inclusive to local stakeholders, from the national to grassroots levels.

During my time at Harvard, I was the Chair for the Harvard African Development Conference,  and brought President of Senegal Macky Sall to speak at the JFK Forum at the Institute of Politics.  While the foot of snow was not the ideal welcome, it did permit me to give a personal tour of Harvard Yard and the Harvard Business School to the Ministers of Education, Higher Education, and Good Governance. I was lucky to hear directly from those who make Senegalese education policy.  They corroborated that my capstone project from Professor Fernando Reimers’ social entrepreneurship course, Cybraries, would support their government’s objectives, and so I decided to pursue it.

Welcoming His Excellency President Macky Sall at the Harvard Africa Development Conference, March 2013.

Momar Dieng (SpecialAdvisor to the Minister of Education), Liz Grossman, Serigne Mbaye Thiam (Minister of Education) Abdou Latif Coulibaly (Minister of Good Governance) and Mary Teuw Niane (Minister of Higher Education) at the Harvard Business School after our trek across campus in the snow.

Cybraries sought to build technology centers to leverage IT training to develop 21st century skills for youth in Dakar Senegal to improve academic and professional achievement. I launched a crowdfunding campaign which raised enough money to buy my ticket, three month visa and accommodations in Dakar. I moved back to Senegal to knock on Ministers’ doors and see what we could start. I was able to make some progress, including being hired to work on the launch of Senegal’s first online public university, and developing a workshop for Google’s Gdays to teach university students how to use Google for academic research.

Presenting Cybraries and teaching internet skills at the GDays Summit organize by Google Senegal. December 2013.

Despite the progress, I knew I had a lot to learn about running an organization, so I accepted an opportunity to work at Tostan, an NGO headquartered in Dakar. The organization had offices in 7 countries with over 800 staff and was renowned for their work in rural communities delivering nonformal human rights education programs across West Africa. After three years working in an international team, I saw how critical intercultural team building and professional development is.  This can be particularly challenging when staff is differentiated by their local and expat status, unless they are given proper training and facilitation meant to understand and address one another’s realities.

Hosting an event with Haingo Rakotomala and Birima Fall at the Tostan Training Center in Thies, Senegal. June 2016.

In 2016, even though I loved my life in Senegal, I decided it was time to face reality at home. Back in the United States, people not only had gross misconceptions about the continent of Africa, but about ourselves as well. And especially in the current political climate dominated by a nationalist narrative, we must push to develop the next generation of global citizens.  In the US, there are significant gaps when it comes to access to true diversity, and fake news allows the stereotypes that Africa needs our saving to be perpetuated.

On the other side, the mentality on the ground in many African contexts which has been perpetuated by the NGO/charity system is that foreigners bring money to fix problem. It is my belief that Americans should be investing in business on the continent, which will not only create jobs and boost the economy, but also promote social impact.  And Africa is ripe for investment, with a large, entrepreneurial youth population, with 22% of the youth workforce starting businesses, and 20% of African entrepreneurs offering new products or services.  The time is now to invest, and to make good deals, you must consider local cultural norms.

The Baobab Consulting team, Emma Giloth, Michael Ibonye, Pumla Maswanganyi and Thomas Gallemore. Social Capital Markets Conference, San Francisco, October 2018.

In September 2016 I decided to dive in full time at Baobab Consulting, the company I co-founded with a mission to promote mutual understanding and equitable collaboration, and amplify the voices of those doing impactful work on the continent. We have nine team members spanning North America, Europe and Africa.  Our goal to change the narratives and practices which hinder successes on both sides. We offer world class branding and PR services, build communications strategies, facilitate and advise on building inclusive projects, and deliver customized cultural exchange programs across Africa.  

Former President of Malawi Dr Joyce Banda delivering the keynote address at the Maternal Health Symposium at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. September 2018.

I believe that through Baobab Consulting, I can contribute my skills and experiences to build positive relationships to change the way Americans and Africans work together.  We recently led an exchange program in Senegal called “Developing Entrepreneurship for Intercultural Collaboration,” where 13 high school students from Rochester, New York worked with their Senegalese peers to build social business ideas. We provide the tools for our clients, who are students, teachers, business owners, international organizations and  world leaders, to increase their cultural knowledge of their counterparts across the world so they can build a positive image, build effective teams and achieve their financial and social goals.

I have been privileged to learn from the world’s best. During my time at Harvard, I walked the same paths as Presidents, CEOs, Nobel Prize winners. I have been welcomed into the homes and workplaces of community leaders, entrepreneurs and public figures across Africa. I have worked for Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda, the Former President of Malawi, and have heard her plead her case for education and smart international partnerships, and even brought her to speak at Harvard this past September. This privilege comes with the responsibility to share this knowledge to create global citizens and further opportunities for young people to collaborate, in the US, Africa and across the world.

The Harvard Alumni for Education SIG is proud to announce the launch of their online global community

HAEd provides a forum for alumni from all schools, disciplines, and professions to share field expertise, research, and ideas. HAEd encourages engagement, cross-sector partnerships, professional exchanges, and mentorship opportunities for members of the Harvard alumni community. HAEd empowers Harvard alumni who are parents, professors, policy makers, and so much more, to make a difference by bringing them together in both conversation and action.

We are excited to be able to provide HAEd members with an online platform to help us to continue to meet these goals. HAEd received its charter in November 2015 and since then, it has opened ten chapters and serves over 2,000 alumni from across Harvard University. The introduction of the online global community will better serve our members where HAEd does not yet have a local chapter. The platform is currently available to global members outside of the contiguous United States, but open to members within the United States of America working in an international context upon request and review by e-mailing leadership@harvardaed.org. To join the conversation individuals must register as members through their website at www.harvardaed.org

Join the conversation today

Sincerely,

Matthew Williams

HAEd Director of Membership

Introducing Nicole Marie Erb, Detroit Chapter Co-Chair

Full name: Nicole Marie Erb

Degree/Graduating Year: Ed.M. Learning and Teaching, 2015

Location: Allen Park, Michigan

Position on HAEd: Co-Chair of Detroit Chapter

Current role or job: Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Detroit Public Schools Community District

3 Fun Facts: I was a competitive ballroom dancer in college. I student taught on the Isles of Scilly in England. I have an adorable tuxedo cat named Asimov.

Why did you join HAED? 

I love meeting and working with people who are passionate about education, and when I moved to the Detroit area, I was disappointed that Detroit didn't have an HAED chapter. I met Mary when we both volunteered for a HGSE Admissions event, and I was excited to hear that she was starting a local chapter.

What do you hope to achieve through HAED? 

I hope to learn more about the impressive work being done to support education and literacy throughout Detroit, within both formal and informal learning spaces.

How did you get involved in education? 

I knew that I wanted to be an educator since I was in high school. A love for literature and a desire to work with students led me to start my career as an English teacher.

What is something that inspires you? 

I'm inspired by the authors who are speaking truth to power through their young adult novels that explore current issues facing our teens, and I hope that educators will make space for these incredible stories in their classrooms.

What is the most memorable experience you remember from your time at Harvard? 

During S308: Models of Excellence, I interviewed students from King Middle School in Portland, Maine, about Small Acts of Courage, an incredible project that honored unsung civil rights heroes in their community. This course introduced me to Expeditionary Learning, which helped to inspire and shape my philosophy of education and my belief that students can and should be doing exceptional work that impacts their communities. Check out this video of Small Acts of Courage, and visit modelsofexcellence.eleducation.org to explore inspiring examples of student work.

What advice do you have for other Harvard alumni? 

Be open to new opportunities. When I was at HGSE, I expected to teach for several more years, but I'm grateful for the path that led me to my current position. Every day, I learn something new about leadership, instruction, and districtwide urban education reform, and I'm excited for the future of education in Detroit.