Jonathan L. Hamilton is completing a Ph.D in the Education Policy, Organization and Leadership program with a concentration in African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral research and experience working with school districts focus on how school leaders negotiate the politics of race, equity, and social justice when they are in the process of developing and implementing school improvement policies and plans.

Jonathan has worked in a variety capacities in the education sector: as a public school teacher in Ohio, Site Director of the Champaign, Illinois Freedom School Summer Program, founder of a critical media literacy youth program, and as a consultant for school districts in Illinois and Minnesota. More recently, he served as the Research Director of Minnesota Education Equity Partnership and is currently a Visiting Instructor in the Educational Studies Department at Macalester College. In the efforts of community engagement, Jonathan is affiliated with organizations such as Education Liberation-Minnesota and The Coalition to Increase Teachers of Color and American Indian Teachers in Minnesota; while also serving as a member on the 2020-2021 Minnesota Social Studies State Standards Committee.

Brian Lozenski is an Associate Professor in Educational Studies at Macalester College. He is a board member with the Education for Liberation Network, a national organization that centers social justice in education. Dr. Lozenski's scholarship explores culturally sustaining pedagogy, youth research, ethnic studies, and African American educational history.

I’m an enrolled member of the Redlake Nation and of the eagle clan of the Anishinabeg. As a child I moved back and forth between the reservation and city, as many Anishinabeg did and continue to do today, and thus identify as urban while maintaining ties to my tribal homeland. I became a social justice activist at an early age while living in Minneapolis where I became a member of the American Indian Movement youth council. Like many people of color I became acutely aware at an early age of my minority status and the social and economic injustices prevalent in our society. I attended an Indian girls boarding school as a middle school student in South Dakota where my sense of identity was further strengthened. As an adult, I taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools for 30 years. Most of my career was spent in the classroom working directly with students who were primarily students of color. As a Social Studies Teacher and person of color I was in a unique position to provide a perspective on topics that were not simply the status quo but more reflective of the social, cultural, and economic interests of my students. In other words, it was my responsibility to make teaching and learning more accessible and relevant to my students’ lives, hold them to high achievement standards and serve as a role model.

Dr. Macarre Traynham is the Director of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)’s new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Center, which provides leadership, direction and support in the development and implementation of an equity framework that guides the work and decision-making of the agency. Externally, the EDI Center supports school districts and charter schools in best practices and specialized strategies to address systemic bias and inequities.

Prior to this role, Dr. Traynham was the Educational Equity Specialist at MDE, where she designed and led professional development, worked as a thought-partner with various internal divisions and the Regional Centers of Excellence and was the co-chair to the One MDE diversity council. She also co-created and co-authored the Equity Magnifier and the soon-to-be-completed Equity Guidebook for the state. Dr. Traynham has more than 20 years of experience in education, professional development and organizational leadership.