Dr. Noor Ali is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Education, where she serves as Concentration Lead for Transformative School Leadership. Her pioneering work established MusCrit, a framework examining the racialization of Muslim identities in educational settings. Her book “Counter-narratives of Muslim American Women: Creating Space for MusCrit” (Brill, 2022) introduced this groundbreaking approach, which lead to the development of the Critical Muslim Education Research SIG at American Education Research Associate (AERA). Dr. Ali bridges theory and practice through her dual roles as professor and as part of the leadership team at Al-Hamra Academy. Her scholarship on critical perspectives in education has appeared in prestigious journals including the International Journal of Research & Method in Education. Dr. Ali holds a doctorate in Education from Northeastern University specializing in Curriculum, Teaching, Leadership, and Learning.

Dr. Ali’s project examines how Muslim Americans navigate political activism within educational contexts during periods of heightened socio-political tension. This narrative inquiry explores the complex decision-making processes of Muslim students, educators, and staff as they negotiate when to speak out and when to remain silent while balancing institutional expectations and personal safety concerns. The research employs decolonial methodologies that center participant agency, challenging extractive research practices through reciprocity and community engagement. This work extends Dr. Ali’s established MusCrit framework while complementing her forthcoming book “Recognizing Muslim Experiences in Education: A Practical Guide for Inclusive Classrooms,” which translates theoretical concepts into actionable classroom strategies. By documenting both challenges and resistance strategies, this project will develop frameworks for supporting Muslim Americans in educational settings during political crises, while informing institutional policies that accommodate diverse expressions without marginalizing Muslim voices—a timely contribution as educational institutions grapple with questions of political neutrality and inclusive community support.

April D. Fernandes is an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Her work explores the racialized and ableist consequences of contact with the criminal legal system, ranging from police interactions and arrests to prison and jail stays. She is a co-founder and co-PI of Captive Money Lab, along with Dr. Brittany Friedman and Dr. Gabriela Kirk-Werner, which is currently exploring the implementation and impacts of prison pay-to-stay, or the practice of states charging incarcerated people for the per diem costs of incarceration, with their recently awarded $1.5 million grant from Arnold Ventures. The next iteration of her research agenda delves into the nuances and complexities of the intersection between disability, incarceration, and monetary punishment. Dr. Fernandes received her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology at the University of Southern California and her PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington.

During her time at the Mills Institute as a Research Justice at the Intersections (RJI) scholar, Dr. Fernandes will continue to develop a project on the intricate interplay between disability and contact with carceral institutions, expanding on her previous scholarship while also building upon the robust theoretical and empirical of disability and punishment scholars, activists, and advocates. She will be working on a qualitative project that will gather life history narratives from system-linked people with traumatic brain injuries and members of their support systems to trace the reverberating impacts of incarceration. This project brings together two often silenced populations – people with disabilities and current and formerly incarcerated people – and allows their voices and perspectives, their struggles and acts of resistance in the face of ableist and racist systems of control to be front and center. As an East Bay native, Dr. Fernandes is thrilled to be joining a dynamic and engaged cohort of justice-minded scholars and continuing the storied legacy of Mills College.

Mi-Kyung (Miki) Hong is a researcher at Northeastern University focusing on the intersection of urban planning and public health, with a particular emphasis on tobacco control policies. Her work examines how comprehensive land use plans can be leveraged to address health disparities in diverse communities.

Miki’s connection to Mills College spans multiple phases of her academic journey. After completing her undergraduate studies at Columbia University, she earned a post-baccalaureate pre-medical studies certificate at Mills College from 1993 to 1995, establishing her early foundation in health sciences. Her relationship with Mills came full circle when she returned as Assistant Adjunct Professor in Spring 2018, teaching in the Public Health and Health Equity Program. Following Mills College’s merger with Northeastern University, Miki has continued her academic contributions at Mills College at Northeastern University, teaching courses on the American Healthcare System and Principles of Epidemiology. Miki has also been conducting research through the Russell Women in Science Leadership Scholar Program at the Mills Institute, which has enabled her to engage students in hands-on research.

Mona Tajali is a scholar of gender and politics, specializing in women’s political participation and representation in Muslim countries, with a comparative focus on Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Her research includes analysis of feminist mobilization against patriarchal structures as well as the experiences of institutionalization of women’s rights in semi-democratic and non-democratic contexts. Her publications, with two books published as open access, are centered primarily around how to empower women—especially those from historically marginalized communities—to attain political power, how to reduce barriers that exclude women and minorities from politics (such as recent waves of violence against women in politics [VAWP] and democratic backsliding), and how to further empower women as political actors, especially in contexts of conflict and transition.

Her research at RJI adopts a research justice framework to examine the institutionalization of women’s rights across the Muslim world, with a particular focus on the strategic use of feminist foreign policy. This critical inquiry highlights both the opportunities that such policy frameworks have created for women political leaders in various Muslim-majority contexts and the limitations they face in meaningfully challenging entrenched global power hierarchies. This research seeks to contribute to the development of more egalitarian, context-sensitive, and decolonial policy making frameworks, inspired largely by feminist grassroots advocates from the region. The initial part of this research is focused on women leaders’ voices from Iran and Afghanistan, as well as feminist advocates who operate transnationally. 

https://monatajali.org/

Dr. Jaci Urbani believes education should develop critical thinking skills for active participation in a democratic society. She began her career at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, where she taught for 12 years, using American Sign Language for instruction. She has been a professor for 13 years and currently is teaching in the educational leadership doctoral program. In addition, she has taught across early childhood, elementary, and special education credential and master’s degree programs. Her dedication for social equity in and through education is evident in multiple research projects, including on the following topics: identifying and addressing implicit bias in teacher education, introducing multiple forms of diversity into the classroom through children’s literature, attending to educational inequities exasperated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and implementing dialogic reading to facilitate language development. Jaci earned her doctorate in Special Education from the joint program between University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University and her master’s degree from Gallaudet University in Washington DC. She current serves as Associate Professor and Director of Early Childhood Special Education at Mills College at Northeastern University, in Oakland, CA.
 
Dr. Urbani’s research demonstrates a sustained commitment to educational equity, collaborative inquiry, and transformative pedagogy. During the upcoming year with RJI, she will be leading a qualitative research project investigating the experiences of elementary school teachers as they incorporate children’s literature that accurately reflect the histories, cultures, and contributions of intentionally marginalized communities. Textbooks have consistently lacked the experiences of nondominant groups, limiting opportunities for a deep understanding and critical analysis of historical and contemporary issues and cultures. With the current divisive and punitive political climate around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), educators need support in supplementing traditional curricula. Working in partnership with classroom educators, the research team will examine both the challenges and successes involved in designing and delivering instruction that promotes equity, honors student identities, and encourages active civic engagement. Through iterative collaboration, the project will focus on identifying educator implicit biases, tailoring ongoing instruction to the needs of individual students and classrooms, and developing interdisciplinary lessons that foster inclusive learning environments. The ultimate goal is to equip students with the analytical tools to interrogate systems of discrimination and to act in ways that advance social justice. By purposefully selecting and centering children’s literature that reflects diverse experiences, this project seeks to cultivate classrooms where all students see themselves reflected and empowered to contribute to a more equitable society.

Stathis G. Yeros is a historian of the built environment, designer and Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico. His research explores how struggles for social justice shape, and are shaped by, the spaces we inhabit. His first book, Queering Urbanism: Insurgent Spaces in the Fight for Justice (University of California Press, 2024), brings together insights from anthropology and queer theory in dialogue with architecture and spatial justice to examine how LGBTQ+ communities transform the built environment—and, in doing so, lay claim to forms of insurgent citizenship.

Yeros’s current projects investigate the politics of community and citizenship as they emerge in both design practices and everyday life, with a particular focus on queer landscapes in the U.S. Deep South. This work is supported by a Mellon Fellowship in the Democracy and Landscape Initiative at Dumbarton Oaks—Trustees for Harvard University (2024–25). His research has appeared in leading journals and edited volumes and has been supported by the Graham Foundation and the Society of Architectural Historians’ H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship. Yeros holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and an M.Arch from the University of California, Berkeley, and has previously taught at Berkeley and the University of Florida.

http://www.stathisgyeros.com