Curriculum Manager
She/her
Rachel began her career in education as a public school teacher in inclusive and multilingual classrooms in Los Angeles and New Orleans. She earned a doctorate in education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she developed a passion for working with both current and emergent educators, helping them develop their pedagogical skills, and facilitating a deep commitment to equitable practices for all learners.
Rachel served as a faculty member, and later as Chair and Associate Dean, of a School of Education, overseeing a dynamic portfolio of graduate, endorsement, and certificate programs, all of which centered educational justice and transformative pedagogies. She served as the President of the Washington Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (WACTE) and sat on several professional and university committees, including the Faculty Leadership Caucus, the Antiracism Task Force; and the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Steering Committee.
For decades, Rachel has been working alongside incarcerated and systems-impacted people, first at Rikers Island in New York City and now in Washington with RECLAIM (formerly University Beyond Bars). Her experiences in jails and prisons have shaped her perspective on our country’s carceral and educational systems and have bolstered her commitment to disrupting and transforming those systems.