Dena Simmons, Ed.D., is the Assistant Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where she supports schools to use the power of emotions to create a more compassionate and just society. Prior to her work at the Center, Dena served as an educator, teacher educator, diversity facilitator, and curriculum developer. She has been a leading voice on teacher education and has written and spoken across the country about social justice pedagogy, diversity, education reform, emotional intelligence, and bullying in K-12 school settings, including the White House, the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, the United Nations, two TEDx talks, and a TED talk on Broadway. Dena has been profiled in Education Week, the Huffington Post, NPR, the AOL/PBS project, MAKERS: Women Who Make America, and a Beacon Press Book, Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists. Dena earned her doctorate degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and is the author of the forthcoming book, White Rules for Black People (St. Martin’s Press, 2021).

Publications:

• Is Social-Emotional Learning Really Going to Work for Students of Color?

• How to Change the Story about Students of Color

• Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

• Forging Partnerships with Our School Communities

• Why We Can’t Afford Whitewashed Social-Emotional Learning

• How To Be An Antiracist Educator

• Why Covid-19 is Our Equity Check

• The Trauma We Don’t See