Erika Reece

 

UC San Diego
ereece@ucsd.edu 

My name is Erika Reece and I am a third year Ph.D. student in Education Studies at UC San Diego. I hold a B.A. in Sociology from UC Irvine and a M.A. in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Michigan. Prior to my time as a Ph.D. student I worked as an elementary school teacher and as a project manager for an education nonprofit in Detroit, Michigan. Both of these experiences ignited my passion for teacher education and cued my interest in pursuing a Ph.D. Currently, I am interested in exploring the various ways teacher education programs incorporate issues of race and diversity into their curriculum and programming. As the demographics of K-12 students have drastically changed over the last 10 years, I believe it is paramount for teacher education to put race and equity at the forefront of their programs. I am passionate about teachers and teacher education as teachers have the most direct impact on students. Teacher education is particularly exciting to me, because it is a tangible way to prepare teachers who are equipped to close opportunity gaps, creating equitable classrooms for all students. In the future I hope to teach in a credential program.