BAWP Research Fellows contribute to research in education, with a specific interest in how teachers learn and share successful teaching practices.
Liz Murray, Ed.D.
Liz has been working as a teacher consultant with BAWP since completing the Invitational Summer Institute in 2016. She graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2020 with an Ed.D. in International and Multicultural Education: Language and Culture. Liz has been working in early childhood and elementary settings for over twenty years as a classroom teacher and as a teacher mentor. Her research interests include emergent literacy practices, in particular writing development; bilingual and multilingual education; and family, school and community partnerships.
Cherise McBride, Ph.D.
Cherise (she/her) is a literacies scholar, educator, and experienced BAWP TC who has lived and worked in the Bay Area for almost 20 years. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, investigating students’ data literacies and translanguaging in a collaborative partnership with New York University. Dr. McBride’s research examines humanizing digital pedagogies and meaning-making, seeking to understand & articulate how we design equitable learning environments in our digitally-mediated world. Her research on teachers’ critical connected learning and humanizing approaches to literacy development has been featured in numerous national and international publications and presentations including with the International Society of the Learning Sciences, the American Educational Research Association, and Pedagogies: An International Journal. Drawing from her professional expertise, Dr. McBride is currently leading a partnership between BAWP and YR Media (formerly Youth Radio) that allows us to engage collegial pedagogy, design digital curriculum in a community of learners, and make our practice public, as aligned with NWP’s social practices framework
Aukeem Ballard
Aukeem is a fourth year PhD student in the School of Education at UC Berkeley. He is a former teacher and school leader turned researcher whose work focuses on shedding light on the cross-section of critical studies and the seemingly intangible aspects of schooling for marginalized populations. Aukeem pursues lines of inquiry that help clarify the sense-making and experiences of marginalized populations in phenomena such as love, courage, vulnerability, and togetherness. He uses the research to support policies and practices that center joy and justice for actors within the education field who are frequently framed in discourses of inescapable deficit and destitution. He also consults education organizations on issues regarding mentoring; student-centered, data-driven practices; social-emotional learning; and issues regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Undergraduate Research Fellows
Gratitude to our cohort of 2021-2022 undergraduate research fellows.
Kathryn Wilson (4th year, Society & Environment) - In the field of education, I'm most interested in curating environments for socio-emotional learning, especially when I can blend that with fostering a love for the outdoors and protecting the environment.
Macaela Goodin (3rd year, Social Welfare) - I am researching how students’ racialized journey mediates their online classroom participation. I have an interest in child welfare and the role education plays in the lives of marginalized students.
Seyo Talbert (4th year, Linguistics) - My interest in education is mainly centered around kids who fall through the cracks and adults who've been left behind. I have previously done writing on the decline— or, continuous lack of improvement — of US adult literacy rates. My interest in education is in those who go unnoticed.