{"id":120880,"date":"2020-06-29T08:32:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T12:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/ceel\/?page_id=120880"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:09:21","slug":"critical-urban-education-speaker-series","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/ceel\/research-and-innovation\/transformative-education-network-ten\/critical-urban-education-speaker-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Urban Education Speaker Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Critical Urban Education (CUE) Speaker Series is a bi-annual event bringing leading national scholars to Montclair State University. CUE provides a forum to develop attendees\u2019 racial and political analysis through a series of lectures and workshops focused on social and cultural issues influencing urban schools and communities. Attendees include Montclair State University graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty as well as local young people, educators, and community members.<\/p>\n

Drs. Tanya Maloney and Bree Picower of the Department of Teaching and Learning coordinate and moderate the CUE speaker series events. The Dean\u2019s Office of the College for Education and Engaged Learning hosts the series. For more information or to contact the CUE coordinators, please email criticalurbaneducation@montclair.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Events<\/h2>\n
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Check back this summer for more information on our next in-person CUE Speaker Series event in October 2026!<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Prior Events<\/h2>\n

January 22nd, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Transformative Education Network had the fortune of hosting the incredible Dr. Gholdy Muhammad for our winter CUE speaker series held on zoom this past Thursday, January 22nd, 2026. Over 100 educators, community members, and fans alike logged on to hear Dr. Muhammad inspire us with her research of Genius and Joy in the classroom which she expands upon in both of her books, Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2023). MC Nelly Bess got the crowd hyped up to introduce a powerful and inspiring performance led by Dr. Susan Pope featuring TEN resident Katelyn Batista, and TEN cooperating teacher, Nikkia Neal with students from Newark’s University High School. Dr. Muhammad then led us into the idea of seeing every child as Genius and incorporating Joy into not only the educator\u2019s classroom but by way of the curriculum! She also touched on the histories of schools, how joy has been absent from the beginning, and how to incorporate it moving forward. We also were given glimpses into lesson plans from her new book, Nurturing the Heart and Mind, Grades 3-5, coming out in April 2026! It was truly a magical and inspiring talk, and absolutely amazing to see the TEN, MSU, and CUE communities show up! Thank you to everyone who joined us and made it so special!<\/p>\n

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October 16th, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

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On Thursday, October 16th, MC Nelly Bess and DJ Shell Spin ushered in our Critical Urban Education (CUE) speaker series. They got the audience singing and the energy up to witness a powerful opening performance by TEN residents directed by Regine Jean Louis and Dr. Susan Pope, accompanied by percussionist Glenn Fittin. Source of Knowledge bookstore, the Maroon Theatre Project and the Freedom School occupied tables in the back of the room to share, discuss, and inspire their communal work and resources with event guests. Drs. Bree Picower and Tanya Maloney welcomed Dr. Brian Jones,\u00a0Senior Director of Reading and Engagement\u00a0at the New York Public Library, author of\u00a0Black History is for Everybody, and long-time educator up to the stage. In his talk, Dr. Jones emphasized the importance of Black History and how intertwined and essential it is to the true understanding of American history and our nation. Drawing on the themes from his new book and woven with his own childhood experience in the classroom and lifetime love of learning, Dr. Jones dove into the history of Black America from the Haiti Revolution to Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement, inspiring us to remain curious, question what we\u2019ve been taught, and to always keep working towards liberation.<\/span><\/div>\n

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January 30, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Critical Urban Education Speaker series (CUE) welcomed Jesse Hagopian, author of Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education<\/em>, activist, advocate, and educator. In his talk, Hagopian explored how educators, students, and communities can unite to defend honest education and promote anti-racist learning. Drawing on themes from his forthcoming book, he examined the rise of \u201ctruthcrime\u201d laws aimed at silencing discussions of systemic racism and shared strategies to expand ethnic studies, resist censorship, and transform education into a tool for liberation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

October 3, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Critical Urban Education Speaker Series (CUE) welcomed Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, acclaimed scholar, author, and advocate for justice in education. In this interactive talk, Dr. Sealey-Ruiz guided participants through deep self-reflection, uncovering internalized biases and their impact on teaching. Emphasizing the essential role of self-work, she provided tools to commit to justice-oriented teaching and reimagine education from within. Participants left inspired to foster meaningful change in classrooms and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

March 21, 2024<\/strong>
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\nThe Critical Urban Education Speaker series (CUE) welcomed Dr. Deonna Smith, author of “Rooted in Joy: Creating a Classroom Community of Equity, Belonging, and Care,” educational justice advocate, and former school leader and teacher. Dr. Smith focused on building a toolkit for leading with liberation and community-building to reimagine the potential of schools. She utilized accessible academic frameworks, shared insights from educators, and drew from her personal experiences to help participants navigate toxic school cultures and foster joyful classrooms.
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October 12, 2023<\/strong>
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\nThe Critical Urban Education Speaker series (CUE) welcomed Dr. Bettina L. Love, bestselling author, abolitionist educator, and renowned public speaker.
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November 29, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Critical Urban Education Speaker series (CUE) welcomed Dr. Harper B. Keenan, Robert Quartermain Professor of Gender and Sexuality in Education at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Keenan’s talk, titled “Boxed In: Trans Life and the Struggle for Self-Determination at School,” explored the conditions facing trans and gender non-conforming children and teachers in PK-12 public schools and what those conditions reveal about the role of school in society. The evening opened with an act by Per Sia, an educator and drag performer with Drag Queen Story Hour. It was then followed by a lecture by Dr. Keenan in which he addressed the current hostile political environment towards trans people in education and presented data from two studies. The first study included nearly 400 trans-identifying workers in PK-12 schools across the United States and Canada, while the second study was a two-year ethnographic project examining the struggle for gender self-determination in primary education in a large urban school district in Northern California. The findings from these studies provided insights into how schools teach the public about the social meaning of gender, including the intersection of gender and race. After the lecture there was a Q & A in which guests brought up and discussed their questions and concerns relating to this issue. The event was a genuine tribute to the experiences of trans and gender non-conforming individuals in PK-12 public schools, highlighting the importance of educators to generate communal understanding and empathy.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

March 2nd, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Critical Urban Education Speaker series (CUE) welcomed NY Times #1 Bestselling author, Ren\u00e9e Watson as a part of the Transformative Education Network\u2019s ongoing professional development series. Ms. Watson writes poetry and fiction that center the experiences of Black girls and women. This energy was felt in full at the March 2nd CUE event at the intersection of Black History Month and Women\u2019s History Month. The evening began with young poets sharing their work and then Ms. Watson opened the space and introduced herself through her heartfelt, honest and profoundly moving poetry. Next she engaged in a conversation with students, student-teachers and educators from Newak and Orange school districts. She seamlessly weaved in the themes she centers in her work: home, identity, race, class and gender as she engaged in discussion. Ms. Watson spoke about the long path to self-love, the writing process, the inspiration for her stories, the resilience of the Black community and of course, Black joy, as she responded to and engaged with students from kindergarten through graduate school. The evening was a true celebration of childhood, specifically Black girlhood, and the power of individual stories to create collective joy.<\/p>\n

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February 24, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dr. Carla Shalaby<\/p>\n

In her book, Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School<\/em>, Dr. Carla Shalaby posits that classroom management is a curriculum\u2013a series of lessons students learn from us\u2013and invites us to consider: what do we teach now through our classroom management, and what we might want to teach instead? During her talk, she asked attendees to consider the troubling relationships between traditional classroom management approaches and carcerality, and to begin to wonder how intentionally shifting our models of power and authority in the classroom might instead support the teaching and learning of freedom. By seeing our troublemakers as a resource to leverage instead of a problem to solve, she urges us to imagine classrooms as a space in which we might practice the world we want to inhabit by rejecting disposability in favor of the struggle for love, justice, care, and healing.<\/p>\n

Purchase the book<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n

October 21, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Critical Urban Education Speaker Series: Dr. Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen
\nRadical Care: Leading for Justice in Urban Schools<\/em><\/p>\n

In her new book Radical Care: Leading for Justice in Urban Schools<\/em>, Dr. Rivera-McCutchen argues that care, as typically described and enacted, is not sufficient for leading schools, particularly those serving Black and Latinx children. Instead, school leaders need to embrace radical care. During her talk, Dr. Rivera-McCutchen outlined the five components of radical care\u2014adopting an antiracist stance, cultivating authentic relationships, believing in students\u2019 and teachers\u2019 capacity for excellence, leveraging power strategically, and embracing a spirit of radical hope\u2014while sharing vignettes from her personal experiences and research that exemplify each of the components. Calling for educators to thoughtfully challenge existing structures that reproduce inequality, Radical Care offers a much-needed framework that will guide practice with a sense of urgency and a spirit of hope.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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February 4, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Critical Urban Education Speaker Series: Black Lives Matter in Schools Event
\nPresented Jamila Lyiscott and Young People from Newark: Vision-Driven Justice<\/p>\n

Inspired by Dr. J\u2019s TED Talk, 2053, this session will move beyond what it means to fight against social inequities by embracing powerful vision and action around what we are fighting for. Framed by what she has conceptualized as Vision-Driven Justice, Dr. J will share key principles of this orientation in conversation with youth who have been working on their visions for social change.<\/p>\n