Meet our newest cohort of RISER Network Fellows!
The RISER Fellowship aims to create a supportive and healing space for scholars while facilitating research collaborations that celebrate the agency and resistance of Black children, families, and communities. The fellowship provides professional development, first-hand research experiences, opportunities for growth and support for conducting equity-focused and culturally responsive research while building scholarly relationships within the multigenerational network, or the “village.”
Meet our newest cohort of RISER Network Fellows! We are excited to expand the fellowship to include 11 Mentees and 9 Mentors!
Written by: Destiny Ho
Amanda LaTasha Armstrong, Ph.D.
I am a postdoctoral scholar with Digital Promise’s Learning Science Research Center for Excellence. Prior to this role, I was the Games Lab Coordinator at New Mexico State University’s Learning Games Lab and the Program Coordinator at Erikson Institute TEC (Technology in Early Childhood) Center). I hold a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction focusing on learning design and technology and early childhood education from the College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and a M.S. in child development specializing in administration from Erikson. My work is guided by a desire to comprehensively understand different areas that impact children’s experiences with technology and digital media. Using Black Feminism, Endarkened Feminism, and other Black-oriented theories as my foundation, my work centers of the areas of: research about technology and digital media and systems and children’s use; teaching and learning with technology as a tool and a subject area; the development process of digital products; and early childhood and educational policies. I have had fellowships with Arizona State University’s Children’s Equity Project, the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, New America’s Education Policy Program, and the U.S. Administration for Children and Families.
Natasha Thornton, Ph.D.
Dr. Natasha Thornton received her Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Language and Literacy Education from Georgia State University. She began her career as a kindergarten teacher, which inspired her interest in culturally responsive literacy development. She has also served as a 4th grade teacher, literacy coach and educational consultant. Additionally, Dr. Thornton has supported various non-profit organizations with developing culturally responsive courses, fellowships, and coaching programs for educators. Dr. Thornton’s research and practice focus on culturally responsive literacy instruction, curriculum that affirms the histories and identities of Black children, and the intersection of teachers' beliefs and practices. Her co-authored book, “Revolutionary love: Creating a Culturally Inclusive Literacy Classroom” highlights the beliefs, knowledge, and practices of teachers who love their students by affirming and building up on their cultural and linguistic resources and practices during literacy instruction. As a teacher educator, Dr. Thornton’s work in the classroom is guided by the rich legacy of scholarship and pedagogical traditions of Black educators, which are rooted in love, culturally responsiveness, collective responsibility, and critical consciousness.
Ashley Watts
Ashley Watts is a Doctoral Student at Marymount University where she is studying Educational Leadership & Organizational Innovation. Ashley's professional experience as a practitioner has guided her research interest, which includes a multidisciplinary approach to Black and Brown student success and Whole Child application. Ashley is interested in applied research methodologies, topics pertaining to Black and Brown children, and partnerships (RPPs) to strengthen pipelines from research to practice & policy. Ashley recently finished a project on accessibility of ECE programs for Black children and families. Her content specific interest include: ECE accessibility and high-quality programming, out-of-school time and youth development, family and community engagement, student enrichment, cultural responsiveness, high-quality programming, and PreK-grade 3 efforts. She is currently working on her dissertation, which is a mixed methods study exploring P-3 state initiatives for Black and Brown student success in Massachusetts and California.
Crystasany Turner, Ph.D.
Dr. Crystasany R. Turner is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Rooted in Black feminist epistemologies, her research and scholarship highlight the perspectives of Black women educators and their cultural knowledge as manifested in their care and education of Children of Color. Her teaching and research focus includes Black feminist epistemologies, early childhood education for social justice, and spirit-centered pedagogies. Her work interrogates imbalanced social power, institutional inequities, and systemic oppression affecting diverse children and families. Dr. Turner’s scholarship has been published in Race Ethnicity and Education, the Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, the Journal of Teacher Education, and the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Social Justice in Education amongst others. Her most recent project is a co-edited book titled, Black Motherscholarship Within and Beyond the Academy: Reconceptualizing Radical Futurity, which extends upon existing scholarship to illuminate the multidimensional impact of gender and race on Black women in institutions of higher education.
Ayniah Payne
I’m Ayniah Payne, and I'm a rising junior at Clark Atlanta University. My research interests focus on education topics concerning African American and minority students. I've conducted research on the disparities faced by African American boys and the obstacles hindering their academic success. Outside of academics, I volunteer at churches on Sundays, supervising children so their parents can enjoy the service. Also, I enjoy anything creative painting, sewing, etc.
Chatee Omisade Richardson, Ph.D.
I am currently an Assistant Professor at Spelman College. I am an Educational/Counseling Psychologist and growth facilitator. I have been teaching for over 21 years; 21 years at the collegiate level and 15 years in K-12 schools (both public and private). I have taught in classrooms, assessed students (psychologically and educationally), counseled children and families, lead professional development, prepared students for state exams, and worked with school leaders in so-called inner city public schools in California, Nebraska, and Georgia. I train preservice teachers and I also lead a cultural rite of passage for adolescents. My areas of expertise include culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy, diversity/multiculturalism, equity, trauma in educational spaces, trauma informed practice, socioemotional teaching and development, service to underserved populations, school to prison pipeline, emotional and developmental disorders, and developmentally appropriate practice. I consistently research and teach classes in these areas. My unique educational background positions me at the intersection of the brain and the heart and allows me to approach trauma from multiple lenses and avenues. I understand what happens to the brain when we learn and when we are confronted with both positive and negative experiences inside and outside of the classroom. I understand the layers of development (cognitive, emotional, physical) across the lifespan and apply it to my work.
Charles E. Flowers, Jr.
Charles E. Flowers, Jr. is 4th year Ph.D. candidate in Human Development and Family Science (formally the Dept of Child and Family Studies) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research broadly examines culturally relevant early STEM education on Black children’s cognitive development in early childhood education. Particularly, his research focuses on the social and cultural contributions of these learning experiences on their problem-solving and reasoning. Before his doctoral studies, he was an early childhood educator with the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools for a decade. Currently, his dissertation research examines prekindergarten teachers’ implementation of a culturally relevant computer science education program. He received an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Ford Foundation Predoctoral Competition. In addition, he has been awarded fellowships and recognized for his research by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Graduate School. Charles’ past research work can be found in journals such as Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Peabody Journal of Education. Overall, his research aims to foster equitable learning environments that promote Black children’s learning and development.
Fatima Brunson, Ph.D.
I am a second-year faculty member in the Education department at Spelman College. My work looks at formal mechanisms for learning and collaboration and informal social structures that support educators' cultural responsiveness. Currently, I am working on a literature review focused on US and New Zealand-based projects to understand how teacher educators prepare pre-service teachers for service to culturally non-dominate groups. Previously, my work looked at how leaders and teachers work together to support cultural responsiveness in K-12, predominately Black, high schools.
Hadassah Vincent
I am a sophomore at Spelman College, majoring in Elementary Education from Purcellville, Virginia. I'm interested in research around Black students and the effects of standardized testing, the aesthetics of school classroom environments on Black student behavior, and the effects of lacking teacher mental health resources on Black teachers. Previously, I have gained research experience working with George Mason University, taking an Independence Science Research Class. In this class, I was able to create a research project on my own to present during the Loudoun County Regional Science and Engineering Fair. As a result of doing research on the effects of microplastics in washing machines, my partner and I ultimately won the award of the U.S Stockholm Junior Water Prize regional award. Outside of work I enjoy spending quality time with my friends and family, indulging in shopping, and exploring the nature that surrounds us.
Kristian Douglas, Ph.D.
Dr. Kristian Blake Douglas, a 2022 UNCF Faculty Fellow and 2024 RISER Fellow, is Director of Undergraduate Teacher Education and Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Clark Atlanta University where he teaches courses centered on early childhood education, educational foundations and literacy. He holds a Master of Arts in Bilingual and Bicultural Education from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages (Spanish) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Literacy Education. His dissertation, a qualitative narrative case study, examined the ways in which the narratives of teacher-practitioners in an urban schooling context can be positioned to address systemic racism and other myriad oppression within prescriptive learning environments while also training students to engage in critical literacy pursuits to envision and implement a more justice-oriented society. His dissertation is part of a broader research agenda which takes seriously the realities of intersectional oppression and student activism. In terms of future research work as a derivative of his dissertation research, Dr. Douglas argues that there are areas of inquiry that have not been tended to, particularly the connections between Critical Race Theory (CRT), positioning theory and narrative research.
Ja’Toria Palmer, M.A.
Ja'Toria Palmer received a Master's in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis from Ball State University. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research interests include culturally responsive assessment and intervention, as well as examining disparities in diagnosis and services for Black children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. Ja'Toria served as a Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Tennisha Riley where she worked on projects that examined racial and ethnic disparities among minoritized children and families, including racial disparities in the treatment of youth involved in juvenile justice and inequitable discipline policies within schools. She has utilized youth participatory action research to influence school policy and engaged in culturally responsive approaches to indigenize academic spaces in support of children and families. Recently, she conducted a systematic review of culturally adapted interventions that target culturally and linguistically diverse youth and families who have been diagnosed with autism. She is also collaborating on projects centering equity-oriented patient-caregiver interactions and looking into the variability in early childhood intervention criteria across the United States. In her free time, Ja'Toria is a foodie and enjoys exploring new bites around the city and spending time relaxing at home.
Vivian Tamkin, Ph.D.
I’m an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University. I’m also a licensed psychologist who is trained as an infant and early childhood mental health specialist. My research is rooted in qualitative methods and aims to develop a culturally constructed operationalization of reflective functioning through African American/Black maternal lived experiences. My hobbies include pilates, attending live jazz shows, connecting with family and friends.
Kela Allen
I am a fifth-year doctoral student in the Human Development Family Science (HDFS) department at the University of Georgia. My research interests are broadly centered around minority children’s educational outcomes and racial discrimination. Specifically, I am interested in how race, skin tone, and racial discrimination impacts school readiness for African American children as well as how it influences African American parental involvement practices. I am also interested in the strengths-based strategies African American parents employ to maximize their child’s learning when they encounter educational racism. I have prior research experience examining how contextual and structural stressors influences familial, psychological, educational, and dating processes within African American families. My current and previous research experience have played a significant role in my conceptualization of race-related stress and how it can translate to other domains of life for marginalized families, especially African American families. In my downtime, I enjoy swimming, traveling, and trying new restaurants.
Kerry-Ann Escayg, Ph.D.
Dr. Kerry-Ann Escayg is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education. Her research brings together theoretical and methodological perspectives pertaining to anti-racism in early childhood education, children and race, racial socialization, and anti-racist qualitative research with children. As a social theorist, Dr. Escayg has utilized elements of Critical Race Theory, Black Feminist Thought, and Anti-racist Education to offer new exegeses on children's racial identity development, including strategies to promote positive racial identity among Black children; a research-derived protocol to assess how children's play reflects racial discourse, and an anti-racist approach to U.S. and Canadian early childhood education. Her recent publications have highlighted and interrogated the ways in which whiteness functions in early childhood contexts. Central to Dr. Escayg's work is a commitment to racial equity in the early years and the holistic well-being of racialized children, and Black children in particular.
Tara Kirton
I am a doctoral candidate and full-time instructor in the Early Childhood programs at Teachers College, Columbia University. In the fall I will join the Early Childhood faculty at Hunter College, City University of New York as a Lecturer. My dissertation study centers the voices of young Black children and their families attending early childhood programs across New York City to learn about their experiences. My research interests include early childhood education, disability studies, race, equity, culturally responsive teaching, and teacher education. I have supported research projects as a Research Assistant for the Black Education Research Center, Researching Teaching and Learning project, and as a Team Member for a project researching Critical Voices in Teacher Education under the guidance of Dr. Felicia Moore Mensah at Teachers College, Columbia University. I love spending time with my family outdoors when I am not working. I also enjoy running, Zumba, listening to music, reading, and connecting with friends.
Althea K. Wilson
I am currently a National Head Start Fellow with the Office of Head Start. In October, at the close of the fellowship, I will be the Family Services Coordinator for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District’s Early Head Start Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am interested in research that examines strategies to support educators in growing their reflective and self-awareness capacity regarding how, when and with whom their biases, implicit and explicit presents in their practice, and the impact it has on the children they teach. I am currently conducting a research project that looks at how a toolkit I co-created with a colleague, the Anti-Racism Toolkit for Preschool (ART) can support: Students: • the promotion of positive identity formation, peer-peer empathic and inclusive interactions, and an ideation of justice and activism. Educators: • increased reflective and self-awareness capacity. • increased cultural awareness and cultural responsiveness. • Gaining access to tools that aid in having meaningful, age-appropriate conversations with children about race. Outside of work I enjoy practicing hot yoga, watching cooking shows, and spending time with family and friends.
Deidre D. Jones, Ed.D.
An Adjunct Assistant Professor at Los Angeles Trade Technical College in Los Angeles, CA and a veteran in the field of early childhood education for nearly two decades, Dr. Deidre Jones advocates for high-quality, culturally diverse, and equitable private, state, and federal programs through investing and creating lasting systems change. Her dissertation, Pre-Kindergarten Experience and Its Effect on Kindergarten Readiness Indicator (KRI) Scores, highlighted the variances in pre-kindergarten experiences of incoming kindergarten students and its relation to scores on the kindergarten readiness assessment given prior to the start of the school year. Having presented at conferences locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, her topics range from infant mental health to engaging families to the over expulsion of African American boys in preschool. She has held panel discussions on the preschool to prison pipeline and collaborated with colleagues to highlight the long-term effects suspending black males in preschool has for their later academic success as well as their social emotional development and strategies school districts and teachers need to implement to reverse the trend. Outside of work, Dr. Jones enjoys traveling, socializing with friends, being active with her two sororities, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., and researching and building her family tree.
Stephanie M. Curenton, Ph.D.
Dr. Stephanie M. Curenton is a tenured Associate Professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and the Executive Director of the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED). Her research focuses on positive child growth and development and dismantling health and education inequities for racially marginalized children and families. Stephanie studies the social, cognitive, and language development of children within various ecological contexts, such as parent-child interactions, early childhood education programs, early childhood workforce programs, and related state and federal policies. Her topical areas of expertise are language and literacy development, particularly among African American children and dual language learners, and measurement development. She has created two measures, the Conversation Compass Communication Screener-Revised measure of children’s classroom conversation skills, and the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale, a measure of classroom quality for racially marginalized students.
Victoria Cooper-Roundy
I am a PhD student at the University of Arizona studying Human Development and Family Science. I am dedicated to understanding the dynamics of Black families and how they influence parent and child outcomes and well-being. My work primarily focuses on Black fathering, racial socialization, and school readiness. Some of my previous and current research projects have explored associations between quantity and quality parenting on children’s receptive vocabulary, and associations between support networks on Black father’s supportive parenting. By exploring these processes, I aim to understand the unique experiences and strengths of Black families. My goal is to provide insights that inform policy and practice, ultimately supporting the holistic development and well-being of Black children and families. Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, quilting, journaling, and playing racquetball.
Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D.
Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka is a Research Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at Gillings School of Global Public Health, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG (the Coalition). She is leading projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that minoritized children and children from low-income households, especially Black children, are thriving. Her work is focused on ensuring excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children and their families, through the intersection of anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally grounded research, program, and policy. Some areas of focus include family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education system and programs. She serves and has served on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, Brady Education Foundation, and Trust for Learning.
We are excited to welcome in this newest cohort of RISER Network Mentees and Mentors. We cannot wait to cultivate connections, knowledge, and research with these scholars.