executive board

DRa. JOANNA MARAVILLA

▶ Meet Dra. Maravilla

Dra. Joanna V. Maravilla, is a native of Chicago. She is a daughter of migrant parents, a first-generation college graduate, a former Chicago Public School student and parent. In 2020, she earned her doctoral degree in curriculum studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dra. Maravilla currently serves as an Assistant Professor and the Co-Director of the Literacy, ESL, & Instructional Technology program in the Department of Education at Lewis University. Her scholarship centers comunidad and examines the impact of curriculum and language ideologies on the success of Latinx students in public education. Leveraging Latinx critical race theory (LatCrit) as a theoretical framework and testimonio as a methodology, her research includes participatory action research, the education of emergent bilingual students, bilingualism, education policy, urban education, teacher preparation, and the education of migrant and undocumented youth. Most recently, Dra. Maravilla became a recipient of the Spencer Foundation’s Racial Equity Research Grant and has been nominated for the 2025 American Education Research Association Research Engagement and Development with Youth (READY) Award.

PRESIDENT

DR. Asif Wilson

▶ Meet Dr. Asif

Asif Wilson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Social Studies Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Wilson’s research broadly focuses on justice-centered pedagogies in P-20 educational contexts and has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in publications like the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Whiteness and Education, Teachers College Press, and Rethinking Schools. In 2023, Dr. Wilson received the Early Career Award through the National Council for Social Studies and the Emerging Scholar Award through the CRSEA.

Dr. Wilson’s scholarship invites educators in and outside of P-20 educational settings to imagine and actualize more justice-centered pedagogical praxes. Wilson has grant and philanthropic funding from a number of agencies including the Spencer and Mellon foundations. Of significance is his recent Mellon Foundation award in collaboration with Chicago Public Library, which will support the digitization of Chicago’s Black history archives and related educational support for local teachers and researchers. Wilson is also the founder of the Social Studies Network, a resource and professional learning hub for social studies teachers in Illinois that prepares them for justice-centered and inquiry-based classroom practices.

VICE PRESIDENT

Dr. Shea Kuykendoll

▶ Meet Dr. Kuykendoll

Dr. Shea Kuykendoll is a higher education professional with 27 years of experience. Currently serving as a student advocate, Shea collaborates with corporate partners to support employees in obtaining college degrees and advancing their career paths. With a passion for educational access and equity, Shea works to bridge the gap between academia and the workforce. With ten years of teaching experience , Dr. Kuykendoll has developed and taught courses on public administration, social change, and the construction of race in America. Shea holds a master’s degree in public administration and a Doctorate in Higher and Adult Education from the University of Memphis. Her dissertation titled, We’s Tied Boss: The Lived Experiences of Black Professional Staff at a Historically White Institutions during the Black Lives Matter Movement used critical race theory, plantation politics, and anti-Black racism.

DOCUMENTARIAN

Michelle D. Taylor

▶ Meet Dr. Taylor

Michelle D. Taylor earned her PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her dissertation, Surveilling Black Muliebrity at a Historically White Urban R1 Institution, was recognized with the 2025 Distinguished Dissertation Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Division G (Social Context of Education) Special Interest Group. In her research, Dr. Taylor examines how historical forces and institutional practices continue to shape the experiences of Black women and girls in educational spaces today. Her scholarship thoughtfully illuminates the ways the past lingers within contemporary systems, impacting identity formation, access to resources, and opportunities for advancement. By interrogating these hauntings, Dr. Taylor’s work challenges educational institutions to not only acknowledge historical injustices but also to reimagine educational futures. Building on this foundation, Dr. Taylor’s current work embraces a multimodal approach that incorporates diverse ways of knowing into academic discourse, challenging traditional boundaries of scholarship. Through narrative, textiles, and critical inquiry, she creates space for marginalized voices and epistemologies within the academy, advocating for more expansive and inclusive understandings of knowledge production.

TREASURER

Peter DeCrescenzo

▶ Meet Peter

Peter DeCrescenzo is a current doctoral candidate in the Higher Ed, Student Affairs, and International Ed Policy program, Student Affairs Concentration, at the University of Maryland, College Park where he uses critical perspectives to examine how higher education institutions address racial inequities. Peter serves as Assistant Director of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he co-creates learning environments with STEM students and encourages critical self-reflection to align personal, academic, and professional goals. Peter is a New York City native, alum of the City University of New York, and first-generation college student. During the weekend, you can find Peter enjoying time with his spouse Lauraluz and puppy, Fiorella.

GRAD REPRESENTATIVE

Karla Velasco

▶ Meet Karla

Karla Velasco, M.A., M.Ed., (she/her/ella) is a first-generation college student born and raised on the northwest side of Chicago by Mexican migrant parents. A graduate of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), she is a doctoral student in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership (EPOL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before arriving in Urbana-Champaign, she worked with a family in Mexico that lost someone to feminicide and provided advocacy services to survivors of gender-based intimate partner violence in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Karla’s research interests include decolonial and intersectional feminisms, Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality (CRQI), testimonio, gender-based intimate partner violence, and trauma-informed pedagogies and programming in higher education institutions.

GRAD REPRESENTATIVE