Earl J. Edwards is an educator, researcher, and human rights advocate. His scholarship and practice focus on the impact of structural racism on public institutions in the United States and training leaders and policymakers to create systems to address racial inequities proactively. He is particularly interested in exploring how educational systems can become intentional community hubs for mitigating structural barriers like poverty and homelessness. Edwards is the co-author of the practitioner-focused book; All Students Must Thrive: Transforming Schools to Combat Toxic Stressor and Cultivate Critical Wellness, and he has published in Urban Education, The Journal of Children and Poverty, Phi Delta Kappan, among other academic journals.

Edwards started his career as a classroom teacher and has taught in Providence, Rhode Island; Los Angeles, California; and Compton, California. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, a master’s degree in school leadership from Teachers College, Columbia, and a doctoral degree in education from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Edwards is currently the instructor for the PSAP Educational Leadership course Leadership for Social Justice.

Dr. Edwards (she/her) is an educational psychologist. Her research and scholarly expertise include school safety at the intersections of race, class, and gender, the critical wellness and academic outcomes of Student of Color, and culturally relevant and sustaining teaching pedagogy. She is a certified K-6 teacher with over ten years of experience teaching, mentoring, and directing out-of-school-time programming for youth from underserved communities across the country.

Dr. Edwards has led workshops on increasing school safety, addressing student trauma, and employing a racial equity lens within institutions. Her research has been featured in media outlets like the LA Times, NPR, EdWeek, and EdSource.An Afro-Latina born and raised in New York City, Dr. Edwards is a first-generation alumna who has committed her life to bridging research and practice to improve educational equity, access, and outcomes for Students of Color and low-income youth. Dr. Edwards is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Boston College Lynch School of Education & Human Development.

Sergio Barragán is a first-year Curriculum & Instruction PhD student in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. He is interested in studying how social and racial dynamics affect student experiences with school discipline and analyzing the outcomes of these experiences.

Dr. Molly Richard (she/they) is an interdisciplinary social scientist whose research aims to inform strategies to prevent and end homelessness. Molly’s current research focuses on understanding and addressing racial inequities in homelessness and measuring the extent of hidden forms of housing insecurity, including doubled-up homelessness. Molly’s recent work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and appears in the Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, and American Journal of Community Psychology.  Currently, Molly is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS). Dr. Richard completed a PhD in Community Research and Action (2023), an interdisciplinary program in the Department of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University that emphasizes policy-relevant scholarship. Prior to graduate school, Molly was a member of the research team at C4 Innovations and worked in the field of human services. Molly lives in East Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Andrew Hurley (He/Him) is entering his first year as a PhD student in the Education Policy and Leadership program in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Andrew is interested in studying equity, access, and change in schools and interrogating how to create more inclusive, reciprocal school-community partnerships. Within this area, he is interested in focusing on how schools are and can be responsive to community social justice movements and activist efforts. Prior to joining the LSEHD, Andrew worked in many different roles in schools, including as a restorative justice teacher and interventionist.