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National Symposium for Classical Education 2026
7:00 am8:00 am - 8:30 am8:30 am -8:45 am8:45 am - 9:30 am9:30 am - 9:40 am9:40 am -11:00 am11:00 am -11:30 am11:30 am -12:30 7:00 am1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 3:15pm 4:15-6pm 6:00pm 7:30pm7:00 am 8:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:30am 12:30pm 1:30pm 1:45pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:15pm7:00 am 8:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:30am 11:45am 12:45pm*Coffee and Tea will be served all day.
Jake Tawney serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Great Hearts Academies, a network of classical charter schools across multiple states. Jake has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He continued his studies at The Ohio State University where he earned a masters degree in mathematics. After teaching all levels of high school mathematics and computer science for nearly a decade, Jake took on the role of Director of Student Services for a district in central Ohio. During his time in Ohio, Jake also taught at the Pontifical College Josephinum, including courses in Euclid and the Philosophy of Mathematics. In 2014 Jake relocated his family to Phoenix, AZ to join Great Hearts Academies. Jake is the proud husband of Christina and the proud father of eight children, all of whom have something unique in their souls that can only be satisfied by wondering about mathematics.
Jake Tawney serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Great Hearts Academies, a network of classical charter schools across multiple states. Jake has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He continued his studies at The Ohio State University where he earned a masters degree in mathematics. After teaching all levels of high school mathematics and computer science for nearly a decade, Jake took on the role of Director of Student Services for a district in central Ohio. During his time in Ohio, Jake also taught at the Pontifical College Josephinum, including courses in Euclid and the Philosophy of Mathematics. In 2014 Jake relocated his family to Phoenix, AZ to join Great Hearts Academies. Jake is the proud husband of Christina and the proud father of eight children, all of whom have something unique in their souls that can only be satisfied by wondering about mathematics.
Tom Doebler has spent his entire twenty-year career in education working with and for students with exceptionalities. 17 of those years has been with Great Hearts Academies, where he has shared in the work of building a large and robust program of Exceptional Student Services that aligns with the heart of classical education and our mission to provide access to the ennobling experience of a classical, liberal arts education to any family that wants it for their child. Tom lives in Phoenix with his wife Angelika and his two children, Vera (5) and Rowan (3).
Amy Gilbert Richards is Affiliate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Eastern University and Faculty Fellow of the Templeton Honors College Master of Arts in Classical Teaching program. Her course "Difference and Human Dignity in the Great Tradition" and her recent book, Disability and Classical Education: Student Formation in Keeping with Our Common Humanity, are dedicated to helping classical teachers to welcome students with disabilities and learning differences. She also teaches MAT courses on "The Good"—focused on forming classical teachers in their understanding of what it means to live a good human life—and on the "Philosophy and Psychology of the Young Person.
Sir Jonathan Bate is Regents Professor of Literature and Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University and a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, where he was formerly Provost of Worcester College. He is the author of twenty books, including prizewinning biographies of the writers William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, John Clare and Ted Hughes. He has been on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company and edited their editions of Shakespeare’s *Complete Works* and *Collaborative Plays*. He co-curated the Shakespeare show in the British Museum that was the centrepiece of the cultural festival during the 2012 London Olympics and *Being Shakespeare*, his one-man play for Simon Callow, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival toured the United Kingdom, had three runs in London’s West End, and played in New York, Chicago and Trieste. He is chair of the Hawthornden Foundation, supporting creative writers with residencies in Brooklyn, Lake Como and a Scottish castle.
Nick is a director, actor and lecturer on Shakespeare. He has directed at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, Wilton’s Music Hall, and St James’s Theatre, at the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, at Folger Theatre in Washington DC, Tmu-na Theatre in Tel Aviv, the McCoy Theater in Memphis and at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.He is an Associate Tutor at RADA, LAMDA, and Shakespeare’s Globe, and he has directed and taught for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Lir Academy in Dublin, BADA, Mountview, Rhodes College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Case Western Reserve University and the NYU.As an actor he worked with the RSC, the National Theatre, the Globe Theatre, on the BBC and ITV, and appeared in Miss Potter, 102 Dalmatians, and as John in About A Boy.He lectures worldwide on Shakespeare, had a paper published in Shakespeare Bulletin in 2014, and contributed to How and Why We Teach Shakespeare (Routledge) and Why The Theatre? ( Routledge).
Michael Austin currently serves Great Hearts as Director of Curriculum for the Upper School. He comes to this work having served for many years at Veritas Preparatory Academy as teacher and administrator. He has a wide love for the whole of the Great Hearts Curriculum, from the study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets in Grade 6 to the proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus in Grade 12.
Cammie Passey has been in the public education world for almost two decades, beginning her career with the Sunnyside School District in Tucson, Arizona and, for the last 11 years, continuing the adventure with Great Hearts Academies in Phoenix. Throughout her time, she’s served in a variety of roles at the elementary level including (but not limited to) classroom lead in both 4th and 5th grade, campus math instructional coach, assistant headmaster, and currently as the National Director of Lower School Curriculum for Great Hearts. In keeping with her childhood dream of becoming a teacher, Cammie earned a BS in Elementary Education from Utah State University in 2002 and an MA in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2012. After joining Great Hearts in 2012, her eyes were opened to the wonders of the classical liberal arts, and she strives every day to deepen her experience in and knowledge of the great tradition.
Matthew B. Crawford is a Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and a New York Times bestselling author. He studied physics as an undergraduate, then the history of political thought (Ph.D. University of Chicago). His books include
"Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work"
"The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction"
"Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road"
His shorter writings have appeared in First Things, The Wall Street Journal, The New Atlantis, The Hedgehog Review, Unherd, Compact and at his Substack, Archedelia.
Sir Jonathan Bate is Regents Professor of Literature and Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University and a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, where he was formerly Provost of Worcester College. He is the author of twenty books, including prizewinning biographies of the writers William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, John Clare and Ted Hughes. He has been on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company and edited their editions of Shakespeare’s *Complete Works* and *Collaborative Plays*. He co-curated the Shakespeare show in the British Museum that was the centrepiece of the cultural festival during the 2012 London Olympics and *Being Shakespeare*, his one-man play for Simon Callow, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival toured the United Kingdom, had three runs in London’s West End, and played in New York, Chicago and Trieste. He is chair of the Hawthornden Foundation, supporting creative writers with residencies in Brooklyn, Lake Como and a Scottish castle.
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last six years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, reading specialist, mentor teacher/instructional coach, and a school leader. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as rising 8th, 7th, and 4th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children’s ministry programs.
Mary Chin (M.Ed., Arizona State University, M.Eng. M.I.T.) is a Professional Development Associate for Great Hearts working to support PD and instructional coaching throughout the network. Prior to this role, Mary was a Master Teacher in mathematics and an instructional coach. She also developed and ran PD and served on the Academic Leadership Team on her campus. She believes in instructional coaching because the autonomy it provides to teachers while also helping to improve learning outcomes through addressing behaviors and beliefs. Outside of education, Mary is passionate about ice hockey: playing in women tournaments in the Southwest and coaching her children’s youth teams in Gilbert, AZ.
Satyan Devadoss is currently the Fletcher Jones professor of applied mathematics and professor of computer science at the University of San Diego. He was professor at Williams for nearly 15 years, holding visiting positions at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Ohio State, Harvey Mudd, Université Nice, and Stanford. A fellow of the American Mathematical Society and recipient of two national teaching awards, his thoughts have appeared in NPR, the Washington Post, the Times of London, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. He has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Department of Defense.
Dr. David Diener works at Hillsdale College where he is an Assistant Professor of Education. Previously he spent fifteen years in K-12 private education, eleven of those in administration and eight as headmaster of classical Christian schools. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Classical Learning and the Board of Academic Advisors for the Classic Learning Test. He is the Executive Director of the Alcuin Fellowship, a member of the National Council of Classical Educators, and regularly provides consulting services and teacher training to classical schools. He is the author of Plato: The Great Philosopher-Educator and has published articles on Plato, Kierkegaard, and various topics in philosophy of education. He also serves as the series editor for Classical Academic Press series Giants in the History of Education and is an associate editor for the journal Principia: a Journal of Classical Education. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Ancient Languages from Wheaton College as well as an MA in Philosophy, an MS in History and Philosophy of Education, and a dual PhD in Philosophy and Philosophy of Education from Indiana University.
Dr. Anika T. Prather is an accomplished educator with a B.A. in Elementary Education from Howard University and multiple graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University, including a Master’s in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and a PhD in English, Theatre, and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on enhancing literacy among African American students through engagement with classic literature, and she self-published her dissertation Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature.Anika is a co-author of The Black Intellectual Tradition and has held various educational positions, including teacher, supervisor, and Head of School. She previously lectured in the classics department at Howard University and was the Director of High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy until February 2024. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor and coordinator of Elementary Education at Catholic University. In 2015, Anika founded The Living Water School, a distinctive Christian institution rooted in Classical Education and the Sudbury Model, and co-established The Living Water Center, which hosts educational activities and The Blacks in Classics Museum in Old Town Alexandria. Additionally, she is a sought-after speaker and educational consultant for public, private, and charter schools through her consulting company, Anika Prather Consulting. Anika, married to chemical and computer engineer Damon M. Prather, shares a passion for high-quality education. Together, they developed the educational program for their school and are parents to three young children. In addition to her educational pursuits, Anika is a performing artist who integrates music, drama, and storytelling into her presentations.
Tammy Morrow has been a teacher for over three decades at various colleges and universities, and also at several private and public schools of secondary education. For the past fifteen years, Tammy has been working for Great Hearts, serving the network for many of these years as a lower and upper-school teacher, and more recently in the administrative roles of academic dean, director of interventions, network coach, and curriculum developer. From her long tenure with Great Hearts as both teacher and administrator, Tammy has become increasingly interested in how best to educate today’s students about the racial injustice in our nation’s history in a way that can bring healing to our nation.
Dr. Daniel Scoggin is the co-founder of Great Hearts Academies. Over twenty years ago, he started as the headmaster of a classical, liberal arts academy in Tempe, AZ. In 2004, Dan authored the original Great Hearts business plan. As the founding CEO, he secured the initial strategic funding partnerships with local and national philanthropy to launch the Arizona network of academies. From 2004 to 2015, he directed the network’s growth and academic model, including Great Hearts’ expansion into Texas. Great Hearts now serves 30,000 students at 48 schools in Phoenix, San Antonio, North Texas, and Baton Rouge, with immediate plans to expand into Florida. Great Hearts also serves students with online classical academies, and Dan recently led the founding of a growing network of Christian classical academies—Great Hearts Christos—in Phoenix, serving a diverse group of families via ESA funding opportunities. Great Hearts Christos seek to open campuses in other ESA choice markets around the country. In addition to serving on the Great Hearts America, Arizona, and Foundation boards, Dan is the organization’s Academies Officer, overseeing school operations and improvement as well as further brick-and-mortar expansion nationally. Dr. Scoggin holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the Claremont Graduate University, a B.A. from Santa Clara University, attended the Stanford University Executive Education program, was a Piper Fellow, Pahara-Aspen Fellow, and recently completed an M.A. in character education from the Jubilee Centre at the University of Birmingham (U.K.). He is the father of four daughters (two Great Hearts graduates and two current Christos scholars) and lives with his wife Tiffany in Mesa, AZ.
Tom Doebler has spent his entire twenty-year career in education working with and for students with exceptionalities. 17 of those years has been with Great Hearts Academies, where he has shared in the work of building a large and robust program of Exceptional Student Services that aligns with the heart of classical education and our mission to provide access to the ennobling experience of a classical, liberal arts education to any family that wants it for their child. Tom lives in Phoenix with his wife Angelika and his two children, Vera (5) and Rowan (3).
Charlotte Thomas is the Executive Director of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, an international professional association that supports faculty, students, and administrators in core text education mostly at the undergraduate level. She has also been a Professor of Philosophy at Mercer University for 30 years, specializing in Ancient Political Philosophy
Meredith Frey is a current 3rd grade teacher at Great Hearts Northern Oaks in San Antonio, TX with a passion to see students love what is beautiful, persevere in the difficult, and become cultivators of good in the world. She enjoys bringing her multi-cultural experiences from living and working overseas into the classroom and incorporating intentional movement breaks designed to engage learners. She motivates her students through musical mantras that inspire her students to do hard things. In addition, Meredith is the Varsity Basketball Head Coach and desires to create strong partnerships between the upper and lower schools on her campus. Meredith has a master’s in educational leadership from Baylor University and completed her undergrad at Wheaton College. She was the winner of the 2024 Great Hearts Excellent Teaching Contest and had the opportunity to extend her learning in the global classroom by studying Ancient Rome in Italy. Meredith desires to shape future world changers and encourage teachers to celebrate the joys of teaching.
Lincoln Jones is the director of the American Contemporary Ballet. He has choreographed national campaigns for Facebook, Apple, and Virgin Mobile. He has also spoken on ballet for The Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation at Cambridge, among others, and has served on the Jury of the Los Angeles Film Festival. He is a recipient of the Philanthropy Roundtable Courageous Leader Award.
Originally from Florida, Hannah began dancing at the age of 5. She trained with Next Generation Ballet as a trainee before attending the Alvin Ailey BFA program with Fordham University in NYC on scholarship. Hannah continued her formal ballet training at Houston Ballet Academy and Atlanta Ballet before being promoted to Atlanta Ballet’s second company. She went on to dance with Oklahoma City Ballet’s Studio Company, dancing works by Septime Webre, Helen Pickett and George Balanchine. She was the Studio Company Representative and toured with the main company for 2 seasons. Hannah has also attended the summer programs of Orlando Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, the French Academie of Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Joffrey Ballet in Florence, Italy, and the International Ballet Master Classes in Prague. Hannah is the recipient of the Suffolk Signature Sponsorship, a two-time recipient of the SERBA (Southeast Regional Ballet Association) scholarship, was nominated for the Spotlight Award for Dance and has received American Ballet Theater Certification with Merit. She has been a guest artist with several ballet companies in Los Angeles, including Ballet Project OC, LA Dance Moves and The Realm Company. Hannah has also modeled for numerous brands and magazines and has appeared in several films and TV shows, including Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Star Trek, Picard. Hannah joined the American Contemporary Ballet in Los Angeles as a company dancer in 2019. She has premiered several featured roles with ACB and is excited to have begun her 5th season with such an exciting and visionary ballet company.
Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on education, upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. He co-founded Vertex Partnership Academies, a virtues-based, International Baccalaureate high school in the Bronx, and the National Summer School Initiative, serves as chairman of the board at Spence-Chapin, and is a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center. Following the publication of his book Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for All Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power (Templeton Press, 2022), Mr. Rowe leads AEI’s FREE Initiative. The FREE Initiative cultivates a deeper understanding of how family, religion, education, and entrepreneurship weave together a moral fabric that shapes and develops agency in children.
Andrew J. Zwerneman is co-founder and president of Cana Academy. He blogs weekly at www.canaacademy.org and is the author of History Forgotten and Remembered (2020) and The Life We Have Together: A Case for Humane Studies, A Vision for Renewal (2022). Andrew is the narrator for the film series, HISTORY250.
Dr. Amber Dyer holds the Ph.D. in literature with distinction from the Institute of Philosophical Studies at the University of Dallas. She is a Fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture and a leadership consultant and executive coach for a Fortune 100 Company. She is the recipient of the James Sims Prize for Literature and has published on such diverse authors as Aristotle, Dostoevsky, and C.S. Lewis. Dr. Dyer currently serves as the Executive Headmaster of Great Hearts Irving Upper School and teaches and mentors leaders in Great Hearts America’s national Apex leadership program. Prior to joining Great Hearts, Dr. Dyer served as the Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Dallas, led student life, marketing, and college admissions teams at LeTourneau University, and taught over 2,000 university students the classics as a professor of classical literature, philosophy, business communications, and public speaking at University of Dallas, LeTourneau University, and Dallas Baptist University. More recently, Dr. Dyer served as a Senior Consultant for the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture’s Cowan Center for Education where she co-wrote the business plan for, fundraised, and mentored teachers and administrators to establish classical liberal arts Cowan Academies in traditional public schools. Dr. Dyer was Dr. Louise Cowan’s final mentee; she is a lecturer and contributor at the Cowan Center at the University of Dallas and speaks to audiences frequently on the transformational work of classical liberal education.
Jessica Kaminski, M.Ed. has been helping educators for over 16 years as a classroom teacher, consultant, author and coach. She is a certified teacher who has trained schools all over the world in Singapore teaching first as a math consultant with Math in Focus and then with her own company, Math with Purpose. She is the author of Math in Focus 2020 Third Grade Teacher’s Edition and the co-author of Primary Mathematics 2022 Grades 2-5 Teacher’s Guides. Jessica believes in providing customized professional development for schools to meet the needs of our diverse learners.
Chris Swanson, a founder of Gutenberg College, and tutor since 1994, became the second president in 2016. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Oregon. He focuses his energies on the philosophy of science and knowledge and its role in education.
Mary Chin (M.Ed., Arizona State University, M.Eng. M.I.T.) is a Professional Development Associate for Great Hearts working to support PD and instructional coaching throughout the network. Prior to this role, Mary was a Master Teacher in mathematics and an instructional coach. She also developed and ran PD and served on the Academic Leadership Team on her campus. She believes in instructional coaching because the autonomy it provides to teachers while also helping to improve learning outcomes through addressing behaviors and beliefs. Outside of education, Mary is passionate about ice hockey: playing in women tournaments in the Southwest and coaching her children’s youth teams in Gilbert, AZ.
Junius Johnson is a writer, teacher, speaker, independent scholar, and musician. His work focuses on beauty, imagination, and wonder, and how these are at play in the Christian and Classical intellectual traditions. He is the executive director of Junius Johnson Academics, through which he offers innovative classes for both children and adults that aim to ignite student hearts with wonder and intellectual rigor. An avid devotee of story, he is especially drawn to fantasy, science fiction, and young adult fiction. He performs professionally on the french horn and electric bass. He holds a BA from Oral Roberts University (English Lit), an MAR from Yale Divinity School (Historical Theology), and an MA, two MPhils, and a PhD (Philosophical Theology) from Yale University. He is the author of 5 books, including The Father of Lights: A Theology of Beauty, On Teaching Fairy Stories, and the Medieval history textbook, History of the Early Middle Ages. An engaging speaker and teacher, he is a frequent guest contributor to blogs and podcasts on faith and culture. He is co-host of The Classical Mind podcast and is a member of The Cultivating Project.
Jerilyn Olson is the Chief People Officer of Great Hearts. Jerilyn’s education began as a homeschooled student through the eighth grade, at which point she attended one of the first public charter schools in the nation with a classical curriculum. She then continued her education by attending Claremont McKenna College, a liberal arts college in Southern California, where she double-majored in Literature and Government. After helping found the second school in the Great Hearts network and teaching for 6 years, she began working to support the growing community of faculty. During her tenure, she has also completed a Master’s degree in Humanities with a Classical Education Concentration through The University of Dallas. She and her husband live in the Phoenix area and delight in watching their three children thrive in a classical education environment.
Jake Tawney serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Great Hearts Academies, a network of classical charter schools across multiple states. Jake has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He continued his studies at The Ohio State University where he earned a masters degree in mathematics. After teaching all levels of high school mathematics and computer science for nearly a decade, Jake took on the role of Director of Student Services for a district in central Ohio. During his time in Ohio, Jake also taught at the Pontifical College Josephinum, including courses in Euclid and the Philosophy of Mathematics. In 2014 Jake relocated his family to Phoenix, AZ to join Great Hearts Academies. Jake is the proud husband of Christina and the proud father of eight children, all of whom have something unique in their souls that can only be satisfied by wondering about mathematics. Jake Tawney serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Great Hearts Academies, a network of classical charter schools across multiple states. Jake has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He continued his studies at The Ohio State University where he earned a masters degree in mathematics. After teaching all levels of high school mathematics and computer science for nearly a decade, Jake took on the role of Director of Student Services for a district in central Ohio. During his time in Ohio, Jake also taught at the Pontifical College Josephinum, including courses in Euclid and the Philosophy of Mathematics. In 2014 Jake relocated his family to Phoenix, AZ to join Great Hearts Academies. Jake is the proud husband of Christina and the proud father of eight children, all of whom have something unique in their souls that can only be satisfied by wondering about mathematics.
I am a sixth grade Science teacher at Great Hearts Northern Oaks in San Antonio, Texas and I have been with the school since our founding in 2015. In 2019, I earned my bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Florida and I am grateful every day that I get to share my passion for the field with my students by teaching life science. I have two children, an eighth grader who attends GHNO and my eldest who graduated last year and currently attends the University of Texas at San Antonio. I enjoy spending time with my kids and our two very large dogs!
Gary Hartenburg is the director of the Honors College and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Houston Christian University. He specializes in ancient philosophy and is the author of Aristotle: Education for Virtue and Leisure from Classical Academic Press. He has taught logic, philosophy, and great books for over twenty years.
Jeannette DeCelles-Zwerneman is Director of Instruction and one of Cana Academy’s Master Teachers, specializing in teaching writing and leading seminars on imaginative literature and philosophy. For 42 years she has taught and consulted in schools with an emphasis on classic humanities. In 1981 she co-founded Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, Indiana, where she taught until 1997. From 1999 to 2016 she taught at Trinity School’s campus in Virginia. She served as Dean of Humanities for the national group of Trinity Schools and as a master teacher for all three campuses of the organization. As part of The Academy Project, she co-authored the original curricula and helped train faculties for Thomas MacLaren School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. Twice she received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, one for the study of Plato, Kant, and Hegel, another for the study of Dante’s Divina Commedia. Education: B.A., M.A., University of Notre Dame.
Brighton Smith began a rigorous art training as a 7th grader in the Visual Arts Conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts. He went on to graduate from Pepperdine University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art and Art History, and an MFA in Studio Art and Aesthetics from our nation’s oldest Art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Mr. Smith has worked for Great Hearts for more than a decade. Throughout his career with Great Hearts he’s taught Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, and 12th grade. If you know Mr. Smith you know he is a driven and focused teacher who actively pursues excellence in what it means to teach art classically in a liberal arts context. Over the last 10 years he’s been able to reimagine the prep school art curriculum to align with a deep tradition of classical approaches to drawing and painting. In addition to maintaining a full time teaching load and serving as an instructional coach and New Faculty Coordinator at Cicero Prep, he is also working on resources for the Great Hearts Teacher Resource portal project and has aided in planning the last two years of the Symposium. In partnership with Great Hearts Professional Development, Brighton filmed a 10 part video series "The Essentials of Drawing" with Classical Academic Press through their online course website ClassicalU.com. Outside of teaching Brighton has successfully mounted 10 solo exhibitions of his paintings and been in numerous group shows with multiple galleries. His work is in private collections here in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Virgina, Miami, London, and Berlin. His work also recently entered the collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California.
Luke was an upper school Latin and Greek teacher with Great Hearts for many years and spent four years as the Great Hearts National Curriculum Manager. He now works on the Great Hearts People Team as a Systems and Operations Specialist. Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy is his special interest. He has a BA from Penn in English Literature, an MA from University of Arizona in Classical Philology, and an MA from Yale in Classics and Philosophy.
J. Sebastian Pagani has been teaching with Great Hearts since 2008 as a teacher of languages (Latin, Greek, and Spanish), Senior Humane Letters, and Rhetoric. He obtained his first BA from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, and holds a second BA in Classical Philology (Ancient Greek & Latin language and literature) from the University of Cincinnati, where he took multiple graduate-level courses and was welcomed directly into the Ph.D. programme in Classics at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Pagani loves and continues to cultivate his knowledge of classical philology, literature, languages, and linguistics. In the course of almost 20 years of teaching with Great Hearts Academies in Arizona at Scottsdale Prep, Veritas Prep, and North Phoenix Prep, Mr. Pagani has created and led student & faculty clubs for Old English, Old Norse, Old Irish, Classical Hebrew, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Linguistic Creations, conversational Latin, Classical Latin verse composition, and German. Mr. Pagani enjoys creative writing, and––to help students with language choices––has authored some pamphlets giving unusual reasons for learning Spanish, French, Latin, and Sentence Diagramming. He enjoys time spent with friends and family playing Old School D&D and tabletop board games, and he leads the Old-School Dungeons & Dragons ECNA, now in its third year at North Phoenix Prep.
Dr. Erik Ellis is Assistant Professor of Classical Education at the University of Dallas. After graduating from the University Scholars Program at Baylor University with concentrations in Greek and Latin, Dr. Ellis received an MA in History from the same institution and served as a middle school and high school Latin teacher for five years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Along with Latin, Dr. Ellis was privileged to teach history, logic, and French, the last of which had a decisive effect on his teaching of Latin. Two years into his teaching career, Dr. Ellis began researching and investigating communicative language pedagogy and its application to classical languages. After attending and offering workshops with the Oklahoma Foreign Language Teachers Association, SALVI, and Fr. Reginald Foster, Dr. Ellis left secondary teaching to continue his education. He received an MA in Classics, a Master of Medieval Studies, and a Doctorate in Medieval Studies at the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame and studied at the Polis Institute and the Vatican Library in Rome. One of his research specializations was the history of education with a focus on the history of classical language teaching. Upon graduation, he worked for a year at Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures, where he received a certificate in Second Language Acquisition Theory and Methodology. Following this, he taught Latin, Greek, and general humanities courses at Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile, and Hillsdale College before moving to his current role in the program in Classical Learning at the University of Dallas.
Dr. Eidt is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Director of the Humanities Program at the University of Dallas and teaches Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, Humanities and Classical Education courses. Having studied English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin in addition to her native German, at various points in her life, she is passionate about foreign language teaching and learning, and regularly teaches courses on foreign language pedagogy. She also works with UD’s classical curriculum team and has offered professional development workshops at various K-12 schools on the art of narration, Socratic Seminar, grammar and sentence diagramming, as well as Latin and modern foreign language pedagogy. As part of her work with the classical curriculum team, she is currently writing UD’s K-5th grade curriculum Latin through Stories, a near-immersion, input-based curriculum that focuses on meaningful language acquisition through communicating ideas and stories.
Kyle Washut, a Wyoming native, has been with Wyoming Catholic College since its inception. Growing up in Casper, Wyoming, he worked in nuclear missile silos and coal mines during his teenage years, receiving an AA in Political Science and a second in Spanish from Casper College in 2003. While in Casper, he studied under two of WCC’s eventual founders, Dr. Robert Carlson and Fr. Robert Cook, and began his journey toward Wyoming Catholic by serving as a dishwasher at the annual Wyoming School for Catholic Thought, where the idea for the College was first proposed. He graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in 2007 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, and returned to Wyoming (and Wyoming Catholic) as the inaugural Assistant Dean for Student Life—a position he held until departing in the Fall of 2009 to pursue a graduate degree in Sacred Theology from Austria’s International Theological Institute (ITI). While in Austria, he continued to work for the College, coordinating its inaugural high-school (PEAK) and adult education (WSCT) summer programs, before returning as a full-time professor in early 2012. Washut has taught across the College’s curriculum since his return—theology and philosophy, as well as her distinctive Trivium and Humanities courses. In addition to serving as Visiting Associate Professor of Patristics and Ecclesiastical History at St. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh, he has worked closely with a number of the College’s Administrative offices, including Admissions, Advancement, and the Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP). In the Fall of 2019, he was named Academic Dean, and served in that capacity for four years before being named President in August, 2023.
Elizabeth Corey is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Honors Program at Baylor University
Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies and provides commentary on American politics. His work focuses on how America’s political order is being upended by populist challenges, from the left and the right. He also studies populism’s impact in other democracies in the developed world.From 2019–2023, Mr. Olsen was an opinion columnist for The Washington Post, where he wrote daily pieces focusing on politics, populism, foreign affairs and American conservative thought. He is also the author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism and The Four Faces of the Republican Party, co-authored with Dante Scala.Mr. Olsen taught as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Arizona State University for the Winter/Spring 2023 semester. He has taught at Villanova University, the Catholic University of America, and the Hillsdale College D.C. Graduate Studies Program.Mr. Olsen was previously an editor at UnHerd.com and a regular contributor to American Greatness, City Journal, and World Magazine. Mr. Olsen’s work has been featured in many prominent publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Guardian, and The Weekly Standard.
Meghan Muyanja has been a pioneer and the driving force in the development of John Adams Academy’s online classical program. Mrs. Muyanja has served in a variety of roles at the academy throughout her 10 years of service, including as Assistant Headmaster, Teacher, Grade Level Lead, and office support. She currently serves as the Academy’s Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction and the Director of the online program. She has extensive experience in John Adams Academy’s American Classical Leadership Education model and holds a master’s degree in classical pedagogy. Mrs. Muyanja is an avid reader of the classics and has experienced firsthand the transformation of the mind and heart that comes through the truth, goodness, and beauty embedded in the classics. She has spent her entire career assisting students and families including her own five children in embarking on the classical journey themselves.
Genevieve Peterson serves as the Chief Development Officer for Great Hearts Academies after serving as the VP of Development, VP of Development Operations, and the Director of Major Gifts since joining in 2017. Prior to joining Great Hearts Academies, Genevieve directed the tax credit program at Catholic Education Arizona, launching new marketing plans that resulted in the highest revenue year on record and average gift at that time.
Her love for fundraising began in college at California State University, Fullerton (Bachelor of Arts in Communications) where she served in numerous leadership roles within the fraternal organization Alpha Chi Omega. In 1998 she served as a Leadership Consultant, traveling to over 20+ different universities throughout the United States, Genevieve counseled hundreds of collegians on fundraising best practices, recruiting, risk-management, financial responsibility, budget management, community relations and governance. She has embraced the "Be Prepared" motto to fundraising practices which she learned between 1999-2006 while serving as a District Executive, District Director, Development Director and Director of Development for both the Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council and Grand Canyon Council.
A native Californian, she spends her summers there by the ocean with close friends and family to re-energize to serve. Genevieve currently resides in Chandler with her husband of 25 years Kevin who is a firefighter/engineer/paramedic for the Town of Gilbert and is the proud mother of two sons Braydon (19) and Cameron (16).
Satyan Devadoss is currently the Fletcher Jones professor of applied mathematics and professor of computer science at the University of San Diego. He was professor at Williams for nearly 15 years, holding visiting positions at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Ohio State, Harvey Mudd, Université Nice, and Stanford. A fellow of the American Mathematical Society and recipient of two national teaching awards, his thoughts have appeared in NPR, the Washington Post, the Times of London, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. He has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Department of Defense.
Prior to joining the University of Dallas, William worked in Catholic education for over twenty years as a teacher and principal at both the elementary and high school levels. A graduate of the St. Ignatius Institute’s Catholic Great Books Program at the University of San Francisco where he majored in English and Philosophy, William has led and assisted schools transitioning to a classical vision, designed curriculum for grades K-12, and led teacher formation programs that immerse participants in the liberal arts tradition of cultivating the imagination, faith, virtue, and wisdom.
Alexandra Umlas has taught literature, writing, and poetry in grades 6 through university. She wholeheartedly believes in the Classical Leadership Education model and holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry) and an M.Ed. in Cross-cultural Education. Mrs. Umlas spends her days mentoring scholars at John Adams Academy Online and is particularly excited about the expansive potential that an abundance mentality can provide her scholars. As a poet and an educator, Mrs. Umlas knows the power inherent in studying the classics. Her favorite author is Robert Frost because he speaks clearly and powerfully about the world and its many amazements! She is the author of the poetry collection At the Table of the Unknown and lives in Huntington Beach, CA, with her husband and two children.
Junius Johnson is a writer, teacher, speaker, independent scholar, and musician. His work focuses on beauty, imagination, and wonder, and how these are at play in the Christian and Classical intellectual traditions. He is the executive director of Junius Johnson Academics, through which he offers innovative classes for both children and adults that aim to ignite student hearts with wonder and intellectual rigor. An avid devotee of story, he is especially drawn to fantasy, science fiction, and young adult fiction. He performs professionally on the french horn and electric bass. He holds a BA from Oral Roberts University (English Lit), an MAR from Yale Divinity School (Historical Theology), and an MA, two MPhils, and a PhD (Philosophical Theology) from Yale University. He is the author of 5 books, including The Father of Lights: A Theology of Beauty, On Teaching Fairy Stories, and the Medieval history textbook, History of the Early Middle Ages. An engaging speaker and teacher, he is a frequent guest contributor to blogs and podcasts on faith and culture. He is co-host of The Classical Mind podcast and is a member of The Cultivating Project.
Bo Faser had a career as an engineer in the national defense industry before joining Great Hearts in 2013. She taught middle and high school mathematics while working as a dean, test coordinator, and data analyst. She is currently serving Great Hearts nationally with the mission to collect, share, and utilize data to better serve all our students and their families. Bo’s four children have attended Great Hearts Trivium Prep since it opened. Her two boys graduated from Trivium and are away at school studying engineering and her two girls will graduate from Trivium this year and next year. She believes classical education played a large role in her children becoming well rounded excellent students with strong moral character and insatiable curiosity.
Michael Linville is an educator with 15 years of experience serving San Antonio families. Michael graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in 2005 with a Master of Arts in Religion. After 6 years in local district schools, Michael joined Great Hearts in 2015 as a middle school math teacher and has supported District Benchmark and State Assessments since 2018. Michael focuses his effort on improving data processes to help school leaders and teachers look through the lens of assessment to see new possibilities for student growth. Most of all, Michael enjoys the life he has built with his wife Ora, and their two children, Micah and Verity.
Brian has been a physics teacher at Glendale Preparatory for 11 years. He earned his undergraduate degree in Physics from Virginia Tech in 2010 and switched gears in the early 2010 from a PhD program in Astrophysics into education, earning his Masters in Science Education from Virginia Tech in 2013. He spends most of his time outside of teaching running and hiking.
Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University. She is the author of several books, most recently Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. Her book Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov received a 2018 Christianity Today book of the year in arts and culture award and The Scandal of Holiness received a 2022 Award of Merit. In 2019 she received the Hiett Prize for Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Other awards include a Fulbright Fellowship to Prague, an NEH to study Dante in Florence, a Biola University sabbatical fellowship funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and the 2017 Emerging Public Intellectual Award. She is a Senior Fellow at The Trinity Forum.
Alison Westerlind is the founder and principal consultant at Ascent Consulting Group, where she helps organizations and leaders develop as healthier, more productive teams. With over 15 years of experience in administration and counseling, Alison is passionate about improving organizational health in both non-profit and for-profit sectors. Her work is rooted in the belief that clarity and care are essential to effective leadership, and she partners closely with teams to cultivate those qualities. Before launching Ascent Consulting Group, Alison spent 15 years working in classical education with Great Hearts academies, including Headmaster of one of their Phoenix upper schools and an internal Leadership Coach. There, she developed her skills in leadership and educational administration and a deep appreciation for the importance of clear communication and intentional team development. Alison is a certified Working Genius and Myers-Briggs practitioner and has been a member of The Table Group’s CAPA Pro group of consultants where she was trained by The Table Group and utilizes the models of Patrick Lencioni in her work. She is known for delivering dynamic presentations on topics like leadership, change, and difficult conversations, and is dedicated to crafting personalized, high-impact experiences for her clients. Whether through one-on-one coaching, team workshops, or comprehensive consulting, Ascent's purpose is to guide and support teams and leaders in their development to become healthy, cohesive, and empowered in their work together.
Debbie brings over 40 years of teaching and administration experience in K- 12 and higher education to the Ascent group. Her love of a continuous improvement mindset has become foundational with work on her own teams and with varied institutions as a consultant and speaker. Debbie’s style of work can be characterized by the term critical friend. Her relational style of coaching resonates with people and teams where her care and concern are balanced with supportive recommendations and honest feedback. Her desire is to help move teams to where they want to be and create an environment where they can and will continue to grow, improve, and see how their challenges can become opportunities. Her work has also been marked by involvement in national organizations, most recently serving as a Commissioner for AAQEP, Association for the Advancement of Quality in Educator Preparation. A speaker and workshop facilitator in the areas of change and transitions, continuous improvement culture, and action research. Debbie also just released her newest book, The Habit of Passionate Teaching: Reflections on Teaching FOR Learning with her colleague, Randall Wisehart.
Shannon Richards-Nieves is a seasoned Creative Director with over 20 years of experience specializing in digital marketing and social media strategy. Throughout her career, she has led innovative campaigns across multiple platforms, consistently driving significant results, including a 60% conversion rate through targeted audience engagement.
With a passion for building impactful social media ecosystems, Shannon has honed her expertise in graphic design, brand development, and storytelling, with a particular focus on social media and digital marketing efforts that elevate brands and generate meaningful leads. Her extensive background includes creating dynamic strategies that not only resonate with audiences but also contribute directly to increased visibility and growth for educational institutions and organizations.
As a thought leader in the digital space, Shannon is excited to share insights on creating a social media ecosystem that can effectively boost student enrollment in schools. By leveraging proven methods of audience targeting and engagement, Shannon aims to provide actionable strategies for educators and school leaders looking to thrive in the competitive digital landscape. Her passion for digital innovation and commitment to delivering measurable results make her a valuable partner in helping organizations become leaders in their respective spaces.
Bridget Doughty has been working with Great Hearts for over a decade where she has served as an assistant teacher, lead teacher, dean of teachers, and as an instructional coach. One of her greatest joys has been helping her students grow from letter recognition to independently reading books such as the Box Car Children series, and grow from learning how to properly hold a pencil to mastering letter formation in both manuscript and cursive. Over the last 4 years Bridget’s primary focus has been training all new teachers in TX and LA in the Spalding method. Spalding’s introduction to phonograms with handwriting is the simplest and most direct way to connect English sounds to written symbols through a multi-sensory strategy.Bridget and her husband of over 25 years have 4 children and live in FL where they are working together to bring Great Hearts to this new region.
Christen Arbogast currently serves as the Dean of Faculty at Archway Trivium and Network ELA coach for Great Hearts.
Mr. Christopher Reynolds is a Colorado native and earned his bachelor’s degrees in history and philosophy from Colorado State University and a masters degree in economics from the University of Delaware. He currently serves as the assistant principal at Liberty Common High School. Over the past 15 years, Mr. Reynolds has taught economics, philosophy, history, and government. He coached the cross country and track teams at multiple schools, and initially served as Liberty Common’s athletics director. Mr. Reynolds has gained an extensive knowledge of physical education, as well as youth athletics, coaching, and administration. He and his wife, Kate, have four young children and reside in Fort Collins, CO.
Nick is a director, actor and lecturer on Shakespeare. He has directed at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, Wilton’s Music Hall, and St James’s Theatre, at the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, at Folger Theatre in Washington DC, Tmu-na Theatre in Tel Aviv, the McCoy Theater in Memphis and at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.He is an Associate Tutor at RADA, LAMDA, and Shakespeare’s Globe, and he has directed and taught for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Lir Academy in Dublin, BADA, Mountview, Rhodes College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Case Western Reserve University and the NYU.As an actor he worked with the RSC, the National Theatre, the Globe Theatre, on the BBC and ITV, and appeared in Miss Potter, 102 Dalmatians, and as John in About A Boy.He lectures worldwide on Shakespeare, had a paper published in Shakespeare Bulletin in 2014, and contributed to How and Why We Teach Shakespeare (Routledge) and Why The Theatre? ( Routledge).
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last six years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, reading specialist, mentor teacher/instructional coach, and a school leader. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as rising 8th, 7th, and 4th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children’s ministry programs.
For over twenty-four years, Carrie Eben has championed classical education in both the private school classroom and homeschool arenas. She currently serves as founding board member at Sager Classical Academy and an adjunct instructor of humanities at John Brown University, both in Siloam Springs, AR. As a consultant, she develops and delivers customized workshops for administrators, teachers, and parents in both classical school and homeschool settings (www.classicaleben.com). Carrie is a CiRCE Institute Master teacher who holds a BSE in Intermediate Education from John Brown University, a MSEd in Curriculum and Instruction from Oklahoma State University and is a PhD student in the Humanities program at Faulkner University. Her first book about classical pedagogy, co-authored with Dr. Christopher Perrin, will be published by Classical Academic Press in 2025.
Melissa Davis is Training Director for Arizona. She holds a master’s degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction and is a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner. Now more than ever, children from all backgrounds are facing challenges that impact the way they learn, grow and behave. Melissa is passionate about equipping families, educators and churches with a deeper understanding and practical strategies to meet the complex needs of kids from hard places.
Melissa and her husband, Andy, have four children and live in Gilbert, Arizona.
Interim Executive Director of Great Hearts Texas, Jason Doughty, initially joined the network as a 3rd grade teacher in Phoenix, AZ. He and his wife were inspired by their children’s rich encounter with Great Hearts as students. He brought with him valuable insights from years of experience as a Pastor of Children’s Discipleship. After his first year of teaching with Great Hearts, he moved his family to San Antonio, Texas, to be a part of the leadership team of the inaugural school in this new, growing region. During his 9 year tenure in San Antonio, he played an integral role in the opening of the first four schools. After three years as the Assistant Headmaster of Operations for Great Hearts Northern Oaks, his final role was as Founding Headmaster of Great Hearts Forest Heights. He and his team grew this school from a K-6 to a K-9, from 600+ students to almost a 1,000 before he took on the responsibility of bringing Great Hearts to the new region of Florida.Mr. Doughty has demonstrated expertise in the hiring, building, and leading of teams, as well as effecting positive and life-changing growth for students, staff, volunteers, and families.Mr. Doughty is the husband of Bridget, herself a Great Hearts leader, and the father of four children.
Mary Chin (M.Ed., Arizona State University, M.Eng. M.I.T.) is a Professional Development Associate for Great Hearts working to support PD and instructional coaching throughout the network. Prior to this role, Mary was a Master Teacher in mathematics and an instructional coach. She also developed and ran PD and served on the Academic Leadership Team on her campus. She believes in instructional coaching because the autonomy it provides to teachers while also helping to improve learning outcomes through addressing behaviors and beliefs. Outside of education, Mary is passionate about ice hockey: playing in women tournaments in the Southwest and coaching her children’s youth teams in Gilbert, AZ.
Jessica Kaminski, M.Ed. has been helping educators for over 16 years as a classroom teacher, consultant, author and coach. She is a certified teacher who has trained schools all over the world in Singapore teaching first as a math consultant with Math in Focus and then with her own company, Math with Purpose. She is the author of Math in Focus 2020 Third Grade Teacher’s Edition and the co-author of Primary Mathematics 2022 Grades 2-5 Teacher’s Guides. Jessica believes in providing customized professional development for schools to meet the needs of our diverse learners.
Eric Daniels, Ph.D., is Assistant Director of the Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism (SISC) at Clemson University. Within the SISC, he helps manage the nationally-acclaimed Lyceum Scholars Program. He holds a B.A. in History and Rhetoric from Drake University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to Clemson, he taught at the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University, where he was nominated for a teaching award, as well as at The Fund for American Studies Institute on Business and Government Affairs at Georgetown University. From 2006–2013, Daniels served as an Assistant Research Professor and Assistant Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. From 2013–2020, Daniels served as the Head of School at LePort Montessori, a private school in Southern California.
Daniels maintains research interests in the history of capitalism, American legal history, and the history of American thought. He has published on the history of individualism in American thought, monopolies and antitrust, and American political history.
Dr. Vigen Guroian retired 1n 2015 from his endowed position as Professor of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia and was the recipient of the University of Virginia Student Council Distinguished Teaching Award for 2010-2011. He is the author of eleven books including Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classical Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination (2nd expanded edition 2023, Rallying the Really Human Things: Moral Imagination in Politics, Literature, and Everyday Life and The Orthodox Reality: Culture, Theology, and Ethics in the Modern World.He has contributed nearly 250 articles to journals, magazines, books, encyclopedias, and newspapers on a wide range of subjects including culture, politics, literature, ethics, liturgy, marriage and family, and gardening. Since his retirement Dr. Guroian has given most of his energies to the classical schooling revolution. In 2019, he received The Russell Kirk Paideia Prize from the CIRCE Institute for a lifetime of cultivating virtue. Dr. Guroian is Senior Fellow of the Center on Law and Religion of Emory University, Permanent Senior Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, Distinguished Fellow of the John Jay Institute, and Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum
Zoranlly Burgos began her career as a tutor for Kaplan and has since held various roles in NYC Charter Schools, including Kindergarten Teacher, Spanish Teacher, Reading Content Specialist, Summer in the City Program Director, First Grade and Reading Content Lead, Principal in Residence in the Fisher Fellowship, English Language Learners Specialist, Founding Principal of Brilla Veritas, Founding Principal of Brilla Caritas and the Director of Academic Interventions at Brilla Public Charter Schools. Ms. Burgos holds a B.A. in Spanish from the Honors Program at The City College of New York, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education, and a Master’s Degree in School Leadership from Touro University. She is certified as a School Building Leader and School District Leader. Ms. Burgos is also working on her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Capella University. She joined Teach for America in 2011 and has been dedicated to closing the achievement gap ever since. As a trailblazer for her family, Ms. Burgos is excited to continue giving back to the community through education. She enjoys organizing and spending time with her children - Jordan, Jonah, and Stella.
Andrew Seeley is co-founder and President of the Boethius Institute for the Advancement of Liberal Education. He also serves as the Director of Advanced Formation for Educators at the Augustine Institute. He received a Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies in Toronto and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. Over his three decades as a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California, Dr. Seeley completed teaching every subject in its demanding, integrated Great Books curriculum. He is co-author of Declaration Statesmanship: A Course in American Government. Desiring to share his love of learning and teaching, Dr. Seeley co-founded the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education in 2005, where he served as Executive Director for 12 years, and continues to contribute as a board member and a Faculty Consultant. He became Executive Director of the Arts of Liberty Project in 2021. In recognition of his work in the renewal of liberal education, he has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Circe Institute’s Paideia Prize.
Dr. Anika T. Prather is an accomplished educator with a B.A. in Elementary Education from Howard University and multiple graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University, including a Master’s in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and a PhD in English, Theatre, and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on enhancing literacy among African American students through engagement with classic literature, and she self-published her dissertation Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature.Anika is a co-author of The Black Intellectual Tradition and has held various educational positions, including teacher, supervisor, and Head of School. She previously lectured in the classics department at Howard University and was the Director of High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy until February 2024. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor and coordinator of Elementary Education at Catholic University. In 2015, Anika founded The Living Water School, a distinctive Christian institution rooted in Classical Education and the Sudbury Model, and co-established The Living Water Center, which hosts educational activities and The Blacks in Classics Museum in Old Town Alexandria. Additionally, she is a sought-after speaker and educational consultant for public, private, and charter schools through her consulting company, Anika Prather Consulting. Anika, married to chemical and computer engineer Damon M. Prather, shares a passion for high-quality education. Together, they developed the educational program for their school and are parents to three young children. In addition to her educational pursuits, Anika is a performing artist who integrates music, drama, and storytelling into her presentations.
Kerry Lee is a linguist, musician, and biblical scholar turned classicist and classical educator. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition from Oral Roberts University before turning toward a different path in the yellow wood that ultimately led him to a PhD in Hebrew Bible from the University of Edinburgh. His book, The Death of Jacob (Brill: Leiden, 2015), investigates the presence, structure, and narratological effect of large-scale narrative conventions (e.g., type-scenes) in the death-bed story of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob in the book of Genesis. His blog Bite-Sized Exegesis (https://bitesizedexegesis.com) aims to give non-specialists a glimpse into the work of biblical and classical scholarship. He taught Old Testament courses for Fuller Theological Seminary. In 2018, fate led him to Great Hearts Northern Oaks in San Antonio, TX, and to his soul’s hitherto undiscovered affinity for the world of classical education. He now teaches eight- through twelve-year-old children to delight in Latin and in the study of language at GHNO, and through his YouTube channel does so at other schools around the country. He is married to Lara, with whom he has three children: Peter (15), James (5), and Joanna (2).
Susan McWilliams Barndt is a professor of politics at Pomona College, where she has won the Wig Award for Excellence in Teaching four times. She sits on the Executive Committee of the American Political Science Association. McWilliams is the author of The American Road Trip and American Political Thought (Lexington, 2018) and Traveling Back: Toward a Global Political Theory (Oxford, 2014). She is also the editor of A Political Companion to James Baldwin (Kentucky, 2017) and a co-editor of several books, including The Best Kind of College: An Insiders’ Guide to America's Small Liberal Arts Colleges (with John Seery, SUNY, 2015) and The Princeton History of American Political Thought (with Nicholas Buccola and Roosevelt Montás, Princeton, forthcoming). Her writing has appeared in both scholarly and popular journals, and she is a regular media commentator on American politics for outlets such as Business Insider, The Chronicle of Higher Education, KPCC's AirTalk, LiveNOW From FOX, The Los Angeles Times, Ms. Magazine, The Nation, The New York Times, Newsweek, Pacifica Radio, Politico, Psychology Today, the Tavis Smiley Show, and "Today in LA" on KNBC. For her work, McWilliams has received many recognitions, including the Graves Award in the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and the Jack Miller Center's Teaching Excellence Award. McWilliams holds a B.A. in political science and Russian from Amherst College, an M.A. and Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and a Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin is Director of the Jewish Classical Education Concentration track at the University of Dallas and the academic director and dean of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. His prior work on Jewish Classical Education as a research fellow with Tikvah was featured in the Wall Street Journal. He received his Ph.D. in history from the CUNY Graduate Center, held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, and taught at both CUNY and Princeton. He is also a chaplain in the Army National Guard with the rank of Major. Rabbi Rocklin is also the president of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, as well as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America’s Military Chaplaincy Committee. Prior to his work at Tikvah, he served as a congregational rabbi in Connecticut. His writings have been featured in publications including the Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, the Daily Wire, the Forward, the Public Discourse, and Mosaic.
John Peterson is Assistant Director of Curriculum for K-12 Education at Hillsdale College. He previously served as Director of the Classical Education Graduate Program and Assistant Dean of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts at the University of Dallas. There he taught in the Politics, Philosophy, and History departments, and for the Classical Education program offered courses on the history of liberal arts education, philosophy of education, classical pedagogy, the American rhetorical tradition, and Roman history. Dr. Peterson has a B.A. from St. John’s College, where his senior thesis was on Plato’s Laws, and a Ph.D. in Politics from UD, where his dissertation was on Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws. He taught high school at Founders Classical Academy in Leander, TX, including courses on ancient history, classical literature, rhetoric, and philosophy. Dr. Peterson’s scholarly publications include work on Aristotle and Machiavelli. He has also written on education for Classical Ed Review and The American Mind. He presented previously at the National Classical Education Symposium on Teach Like a Champion and its suitability for classical schools.
Elisabeth Sullivan serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE), whose mission is to promote and support the recovery of the Church’s heritage in the classical liberal arts and sciences in K-12 Catholic schools. A former journalist, she developed her passion for the renewal of Catholic education while exploring authentic formation in faith and reason for her own children. Elisabeth joined the ICLE in 2010 to advance this vision and train educators in its philosophy and practice. As Executive Director, she develops ICLE’s program content, teacher formation curricula, and publications, designs its annual conference, and promotes its mission through speaking engagements across the country. Elisabeth is a CiRCE-Certified Classical Teacher who has taught integrated humanities at the middle school level, served on Catholic school boards, and served as director of communications for a liberal arts school in the Catholic tradition. She is a co-author of ICLE’s book, Renewing Catholic Schools: How to Regain a Catholic Vision in a Secular Age, and has published a variety of articles in journals and news outlets. She holds a B.S. in Humanities from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Elisabeth and her husband live in North Carolina and have three sons and two grandsons.
Joshua Dunn (PhD University of Virginia) is the Executive Director of the Institute of American Civics at the Howard H. Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs. His research and teaching interests are in constitutional law and history, education policy, federalism, and freedom of speech and religion, and his research and commentary have been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. His books include Complex Justice: The Case of Missouri v. Jenkins and Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University. Previously at he taught at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs where he chaired the Department of Political Science and was Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual.
Dr. Abraham Unger is the founding Head of School of Emet Classical Academy in New York City. Prior to establishing Emet, Dr. Unger launched the Millstone Scholars Program for Tikvah. The Millstone Scholars Program is a weekly afterschool seminar for middle school students in the conversation between Hebraic and Western civilization. It began with 8 students and now has 200 across the country. He has been a tenured professor in the Government and Politics Department at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. His research area is urban policy and public administration. Dr. Unger also had administrative responsibilities at Wagner in his role as Director of Urban Programs. He held a senior research appointment at NYU’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. While in the academy, Dr. Unger built a consulting practice in urban economic development structuring public private partnerships. Dr. Unger is also deeply involved in questions of faith and the academy. He holds Rabbinic ordination and was in Chaplaincy at Wagner College. He has published a significant study of Jewish public theology. Dr. Unger received his Master’s and Ph.D. in political science from Fordham University. He received his undergraduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and that conservatory experience continues to strongly influence his work in education.
Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and an affiliate of AEI’s James Q. Wilson Program in K–12 Education Studies, where he focuses on K–12 education, curriculum, teaching, school choice, and charter schooling.
Before joining AEI, Mr. Pondiscio was a policy analyst and education reform expert at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank. He previously worked for the Core Knowledge Foundation and as an adviser and civics teacher at Democracy Prep Public Schools. Mr. Pondiscio became interested in education policy issues when he started teaching fifth grade at a struggling South Bronx public school in 2002. Before that, he worked in journalism for 20 years, including in senior positions at Time and BusinessWeek.
Mr. Pondiscio is the author of many books, including "How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle over School Choice" (Avery, 2019), which is about Success Academy Charter Schools and was widely reviewed and praised.
Katie O’Dell serves as the Executive Director of Arizona - a non-profit uniquely positioned to impact the most vulnerable children and families who are a part of the child welfare system of Arizona. She holds a Master degree in Counseling with an emphasis in vulnerable populations and trauma and she is a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner specializing in trauma informed care for vulnerable populations. Her work is rooted in the belief that there is an integral relationship between the physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being of people and communities. Katie and her husband, Casey, are rare Arizona natives and live in Gilbert with their two children.
Jerilyn Olson is the Chief People Officer of Great Hearts. Jerilyn’s education began as a homeschooled student through the eighth grade, at which point she attended one of the first public charter schools in the nation with a classical curriculum. She then continued her education by attending Claremont McKenna College, a liberal arts college in Southern California, where she double-majored in Literature and Government. After helping found the second school in the Great Hearts network and teaching for 6 years, she began working to support the growing community of faculty. During her tenure, she has also completed a Master’s degree in Humanities with a Classical Education Concentration through The University of Dallas. She and her husband live in the Phoenix area and delight in watching their three children thrive in a classical education environment.
Dr. Scalia’s forthcoming book, Thirteen Novels Conservatives Will Love (But Probably Haven’t Read), will be published by Regnery Publishing in May 2025. He is the coeditor of Conservative Persuasions: An Introduction for College Students (AEI, 2022), On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer (Crown Forum, 2019), and Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived (Crown Forum, 2017). His articles, essays, and reviews on literature, music, higher education, and other topics have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, Commentary, National Review, First Things, the Washington Free Beacon, the Washington Examiner, Law & Liberty, Public Discourse, the Weekly Standard, the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator World, FoxNews.com, and elsewhere. Dr. Scalia was an English professor at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise from 2007-2015, specializing in 18th-century and early 19th-century British literature. He also spent three years as director of AEI’s Academic Programs department, where he led educational and professional-development programs and events for college students around the country. Dr. Scalia has a PhD and MA in English from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a BA in English with a minor in history from the College of William & Mary.
Debra Romanick Baldwin is Associate Professor of English at the University of Dallas, where she teaches Western literature from Homer and Virgil to Morrison and Stoppard. She is Past President of the Joseph Conrad Society of America, author of _The Inwardness of Things: Joseph Conrad and the Voice of Poetry_ (University of Toronto Press, 2024), and editor of _The Routledge Companion to Joseph Conrad_ (Routledge, 2024).
Jacob Howland is Provost and Dean of the Intellectual Foundations Program at the University of Austin. He is the author of five books on Plato, Kierkegaard, and the Talmud. His articles have appeared in the Atlantic, The New Criterion, Commentary, Newsweek, the Claremont Review of Books, the Jewish Review of Books, City Journal, Mosaic, Tablet, the New York Post, UnHerd, Quillette, Forbes, and The Nation, among other venues.
Erin Davis Valdez is the Executive Director of the Incubator of the Center for Education and Public Service at the University of Austin. She has been passionate about the transformational power of education all her life, having been given the gift of being homeschooled. She taught for over a decade in Austin-area schools and served as an assistant principal at a charter school in Lewisville. These experiences have given her the opportunity to see first-hand how students can thrive when they have excellent options.Valdez joined the Charles Koch Foundation in 2015 where she helped to grow a portfolio focused on helping innovative K12 programs grow through higher education and other partnerships. At the Texas Public Policy Foundation, she conducted research on outcomes-based funding at the secondary and postsecondary levels, civics education, and workforce programs in Texas. She has testified before the Texas and U.S. legislatures and shepherded legislation expanding educational choices for K12 and postsecondary students.Valdez earned an M.A. in Classics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.A. in Classical Studies from Hillsdale College. She studied in Athens, Greece her junior year and worked as an excavator at the Agora archaeological site for three seasons.Valdez has lived in the Austin area (on and off) since 1990, which counts as "native" these days. She enjoys cooking, reading, volunteering, and spending time with her husband Jeremy, her family, friends, and cocker spaniel, Scoops.
Andrew Porwancher earned degrees from Brown and Northwestern before completing his PhD in history at Cambridge. Currently, he serves as a Professor of Constitutional History at Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. His books include The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton (Princeton University Press, 2021), winner of the Journal of the American Revolution Book-of-the-Year Award; and The Devil Himself (Oxford University Press, 2016), which was adapted for the stage at Dublin’s historic Smock Alley Theatre. Porwancher’s fifth book, American Maccabee (Princeton University Press, 2025) will appear this spring. He previously served as the May Fellow at Harvard, the Horne Fellow at Oxford, and the Garwood Fellow at Princeton. In 2023, Porwancher won a national prize for mentorship "Craig L. Brians Award" from the American Political Science Association. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Daniel B. Coupland is the Dean of the Graduate School of Classical Education and a Professor of Education at Hillsdale College. He formerly served as the Dean of Faculty at Hillsdale. He earned a B.A. in Spanish from Liberty University, an M.A. in Linguistics from Oakland University, and a Ph.D. in Education from Michigan State University. He began his career in education as a high school teacher. He has been at Hillsdale College since 2006, where he regularly teaches courses on English grammar, classical pedagogy, and classic children’s literature. In June of 2020, Hillsdale College released an online course for the public based on his popular Classic Children’s Literature class. Dr. Coupland has received Hillsdale College’s Professor of the Year’s award and was awarded the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence. He was a Resident Scholar at the C. S. Lewis Study Centre in Oxford, England, and the editor for the Journal of the Society for Classical Learning. He currently serves as the Chairman of the K-12 Faculty Advisor Committee at Hillsdale College, and he sits on the advisory board for the Great Hearts Institute and the National Council of Classical Educators. His research focuses on general pedagogy, classic children’s literature, and English grammar instruction. Dr. Coupland has written for a variety of publications including Academic Questions, Virtue, National Review, The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit News, The Washington Examiner, and The Journal of the Society for Classical Learning. He is a co-author of an English grammar curriculum titled Well-Ordered Language: The Curious Child’s Guide to Grammar published by Classical Academic Press. He is the author of a book on teaching titled Tried & True: A Primer of Sound Pedagogy published by Hillsdale College Press.
David Carl joined the faculty at St. John’s College, Santa Fe in 2000. He holds a BA in philosophy from Pomona College, an MA in philosophy from the Claremont Graduate School, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Davis. In addition to teaching across the required undergraduate and graduate curricula in both Western Liberal Arts and Eastern Classics at St. John’s, he has served as Dean of Students, is a co-founder of the St. John’s College Film Institute, and leads Great Books seminars for adults in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. He is currently the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs for the Santa Fe Campus of St. John’s. He has written monographs on aesthetics; cinema as a liberal art; the poetics of William Blake, Wallace Stevens, and Gertude Stein; and the cinematic work of Sergio Leone and David Lynch. He currently serves on the Board of ACTC (the Association of Core Texts and Courses).
Daniel Buck is a former English teacher, current assistant principal at a classical charter school, and a senior visiting fellow at both the Fordham Institute and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. His first book is What Is Wrong with Our Schools and his writing has appeared in various publications, including the Wall Street Journal, National Review Magazine, First Things, and National Affairs
Albert Cheng is an Associate Professor of education policy at the Department of Education Reform in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, where he directs the Classical Education Research Lab and conducts empirical research about classical education. He teaches courses in education policy and philosophy of education. Dr. Cheng also serves on the governing board of Anthem Classical Academy in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Heidi White, M.A., is a teacher, editor, podcaster, and author. She is the Academic Coordinator and Lead Humanities Teacher at Haven School in Colorado Springs. She is the author of the forthcoming The Divided Soul: On Duty and Desire in Literature and Life. She is a contributing author, speaker, consultant, and Atrium instructor at the Circe Institute and a weekly contributor on fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare on the Close Reads Podcast Network. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Anselm Society as well the Academic Advisory Board for the Classical Learning Test. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays, and she speaks about literature, education, and the Christian imagination. She lives in Black Forest, Colorado with her husband and children.
Mark Bauerlein is AN Editor at First Things and Professor of English Emeritus at Emory University, where he taught AFTER earning his PhD in English at UCLA in 1989. For two years (2003-05) he served as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. His many books include Literary Criticism: An Autopsy, The Pragmatic Mind, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, and The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults. His commentaries and reviews have appeared in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Washington Post, Politico, cnn.com, Vox, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other national periodicals. He has appeared on CBS News, Nightline, ABC’s 20/20, NPR, PBS Frontline, and BBC World Today.
Colleen A. Sheehan is Professor of Politics in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. She has served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and on the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. She is the recipient of the Earhart Fellowship, Bradley Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Mary and Kennedy Smith Fellowship of the James Madison Program of Princeton University, the Garwood Fellowship of the James Madison Program of Princeton University, the Claremont Institute Henry Salvatori Prize, and the Martin Manley Teacher of the Year Award at Villanova University, where she taught for over thirty years before joining the faculty at ASU. Sheehan is author of James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government, (Cambridge University Press, 2009), The Mind of James Madison: The Legacy of Classical Republicanism (Cambridge University Press, 2015), co-editor (with Gary L. McDowell) of Friends of The Constitution: Writings of the "Other" Federalists of 1787-88 (Liberty Fund Classics, 1998), and (with Jack Rakove)The Cambridge Companion to The Federalist (Cambridge University Press, 2020); other publications include articles in The American Political Science Review, William and Mary Quarterly, Review of Politics, Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, and the Wall Street Journal. Her current projects include The World of Emma Woodhouse, "Robert Frost’s America," and "The Madisonian Moment.
Inger S. B. Brodey is a professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as Associate Dean of the School of Civic Life and Leadership. She is a Jane Austen scholar and public humanist. Her most recent book, Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness (Johns Hopkins, 2024), has been positively reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times, National Review, and others. She is also President of the Jane Austen Collaborative, Inc.; Principal Investigator of Jane Austen’s Desk; Founder and Director of the Jane Austen Summer Program; Founder of Jane Austen for Teachers, a continuing education program for k-12 teachers; and Founder and Director of Jane Austen & Co., a live web interview series.
Jason Bedrick is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. Previously he was the director of policy for EdChoice and a Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom.
Bedrick also served as a state legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. His writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Fox News, Politico, the New York Post, National Review, National Affairs, the Washington Examiner, the Journal of School Choice, the Library of Law and Liberty, and Education Next among many other publications.
Bedrick earned his Master’s in Public Policy, with a focus in education policy, from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and five children.
Matt Beienburg is the Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute. He also serves as director of the institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy. Published in local and national outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, Fox News, and National Review, Matt’s work focuses on promoting educational freedom, parental rights, and greater civic appreciation of America’s founding principles. He is also the co-author of A is for the American Dream.
Prior to joining Goldwater, Matt served as a senior analyst at the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC), where he regularly drafted fiscal estimates and briefed members of the state legislature on major policy initiatives in K-12 and higher education. He has also previously worked in the private sector for Mercer and in Washington, D.C. with Imagine Schools and the Center for Education Reform. A native of Arizona, Matt earned a bachelor’s in economics from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s in public affairs from Princeton.
Derrell Bradford is the president of 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now. In his role, Derrell leads 50CAN’s SPARK work, and trains and recruits local leaders across the country to serve as executive directors of state CANs, advocacy fellows, and citizen advocates. He also leads the National Voices fellowship which focuses on education policy, media, and political collaboration. Derrell previously served as the executive director at New Jersey’s Better Education for Kids. At B4K Derrell worked to secure passage of the tenure reform legislation TEACH NJ. Prior to B4K, Derrell spent nine years with New Jersey’s Excellent Education for Everyone (E3) as director of communications and then executive director. While there he also served on the state’s Educator Effectiveness Task Force. Derrell frequently contributes to education debates in print, digital, radio, and TV media. He serves on several boards dedicated to putting the needs of students and families first, including Success Academy Charter Schools, yes. every kid., the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the advisory boards of the Alliance for Catholic Education at Notre Dame and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, the PIE Network, and was the founding board chair of EdBuild. A native of Baltimore, Derrell attended the St. Paul’s School for Boys and received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
After receiving his BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, John D. Mays spent 14 years in industry in engineering and engineering management in the areas of electrical, controls, and telecommunications systems. Vocationally drawn toward the field of education, John acquired an MEd in Secondary Education from the University of Houston in 1989, and subsequently completed 36 hours of graduate study in Physics at Texas A&M. Shortly after joining the faculty at Regents School of Austin in 1999, John began work on an MLA at St. Edward's University, which he completed in 2003. John served as the Math-Science Department Chair at Regents School from 2001 until 2009 when he became Director of the Laser Optics Lab at Regents. He founded Novare Science in 2009 and is the author and editor of numerous student science texts and teacher resources. In 2019, Novare Science became part of Classical Academic Press, where John is now Director of Science Curriculum overseeing continued development of the Novare Science and Centripetal Press curricula.
Corinne Jacobson serves as the Sr. Director of Professional Development for the Great Hearts American National Team. She loves supporting leaders and teachers in bringing the Great Hearts mission to students and families across the nation.
Karly Barksdale is a passionate educator with 17 years of experience, 13 with Great Hearts. She is dedicated to inspiring curiosity and a love for learning in students and teachers alike. As a classroom teacher and instructional coach, Karly works diligently to enhance student outcomes and foster academic excellence by guiding educators in implementing innovative teaching strategies that integrate academic rigor along with the joy of discovery. She lives in Chandler, AZ with her husband and two daughters.
Marilyn Simon is a Shakespeare scholar and university literature instructor. She writes for Unherd, Quillette, and the Substack Submission. She is working on her first book called Submission: Sex, Women, and Shakespeare.