Shannon Pugh, Ed.D.
President, National Council for the Social Studies, 2022-2023
Director of Community and School-Based Programming, Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Annapolis, Maryland.

Shannon Pugh is the Director of Community and School-Based Programming in Anne Arundel County, Maryland where she supervises Title I, Community Schools, and other grants and programs that support the amazing schools and amazing students in traditionally under-resourced communities. Prior to moving to district-level administration, she taught social studies in Tunica, Mississippi, Dallas, Texas, and Gambrills, Maryland. She earned her B.A. in History and Political Science and her M.A. in Political Science from Midwestern State University. She also earned an M.Ed. in Education Administration from the University of North Texas and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland. She is the former President of the Dallas Council for the Social Studies and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Maryland Council for the Social Studies (MDCSS). She holds National Board Certification in Social Studies. 

Suzanne Eckes, Ph.D., J.D.
Professor, Susan S. Engeleiter Chair in Education Law, Policy, and Practice, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Suzanne Eckes is the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy, and Practice at the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Much of her research focuses on how civil rights laws impact education policies in K-12 public schools. She is a co-author or co-editor of several articles and books, including Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers, and Students (8th ed., Pearson). She is a faculty affiliate with the University of Wisconsin Law School. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Education, she was a professor at Indiana University, a lawyer, and a public high school teacher.

Sandy Boyd, J.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Seek Common Ground

Sandy Boyd is the CEO of Seek Common Ground (SCG), an organization committed to empowering independent state and local organizations to advance equitable solutions with and for children, families, and communities. Prior to launching SCG in 2018, Sandy was the COO of Achieve, responsible for setting the strategic vision and executing the daily operations of the program, communications, advocacy, and finance and operations teams. She also served as the National Association of Manufacturers' senior advocate before Congress and federal agencies on all labor, employment, safety, immigration, workforce, education, and competitiveness issues. Throughout her career Sandy has built coalitions seeking to advance solutions on vexing policy issues through collaboration and partnership, starting with the launch of the first workplace flexibility coalition in 1994, the FLECS coalition. She also led Compete America, which successfully increased the number of visas for high-skilled immigrants to the U.S. Contemporaneously, Sandy also held leadership roles in coalitions dedicated to securing education tax benefits, workforce education and training, STEM funding, and the reauthorization of ESSA. Sandy served as a board member for the National Immigration Forum and was a member of the National Workforce Flexibility 2010 Commission. Sandy received her J.D. from The George Washington University and her B.A., Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from San Diego State University.

Monique H. Jackson, NBCT
Acting Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent for Student and School Support, Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Bob Mosier
Chief Communications Officer, Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Jeanette Ortiz, Esq.
Legislative & Policy Counsel, Anne Arundel County Public Schools

James Grossman
Executive Director, American Historical Association (AHA)

James Grossman was formerly Vice-President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library, he has taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego. The author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration and A Chance to Make Good: African-Americans, 1900-1929, Grossman was project director and co-editor of the print and digital Encyclopedia of Chicago. He is editor emeritus of the University of Chicago Press book series "Historical Studies of Urban America," which he abandoned to his colleagues after 50 volumes. Articles and short essays have focused on urban history, African American history, ethnicity, higher education, and the place of history in public culture. Short pieces have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, New York Daily News, North Shore Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hill, and elsewhere.

Grossman’s consulting experience includes history-related projects generated by BBC, Smithsonian, various “Teaching American History” programs, and a wide range of theater companies, films, museums, libraries, and foundations. Currently President of the National Humanities Alliance, he has served on governing boards of the American Council of Learned Societies, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Center for Research Libraries, Vivian G. Harsh Society, and Chicago Metro History Education Center.

Emily Kirkpatrick, MBA
Executive Director, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

Emily Kirkpatrick is an experienced senior executive and notable speaker with deep expertise in organizational strategy, programmatic innovation, external communications, and fundraising in the education and nonprofit space. She earned an MBA with honors from Bellarmine University and her BA from Centre College in Kentucky. Drawn to public service, civic affairs, and public policy early in her career, she served in planning and public relations roles at the Kentucky Office of the Secretary of Education, Arts, and Humanities, and advanced the inclusion of women in public service positions while at the Kentucky Commission on Women. Moving into the non-profit sector, she worked at the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL). Holding various leadership positions, Emily left her role as Vice President and Chief Innovator after 17 years to join NCTE as is the Executive Director, where she oversees the professional home for English language arts teachers from PreK through university and amplifies the voices of educators through connection, collaborations, and a shared mission to improve the teaching and learning of English. 

Lawrence M. Paska, Ph.D., CAE
Executive Director, National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

Larry Paska earned a B.A. in History and a M.A.T. in Social Studies from Union College and his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University at Albany. Dr. Paska began his career as a middle school social studies teacher in New York State public schools, has taught social studies education methods at the university level, and holds New York 7–12 social studies education and school district administrator certifications. At the New York State Education Department, He led standards and assessment programs for P-12 social studies education as a state social studies specialist and established the Office of Educational Design and Technology as the Coordinator of Technology Policy. He has also served as the Director of Professional Development for the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), providing instructional programs and services for 32 public school districts in the greater New York City region. He received the New York State Council for the Social Studies' (NYSCSS) Distinguished Social Studies Service Award in 2017 and served as the 2015–2016 NYSCSS President. In addition to his work with NCSS, Dr. Paska serves on the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Board of Directors, the National Coalition for History Policy Board, the National History Day Advisory Council, and the American Archive for Public Broadcasting Education Advisory Committee.

David W. Blight
Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University

David Blight previously taught at North Central College in Illinois, Harvard University, and Amherst College. He is the author or editor of a dozen books, including Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom; American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era; Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory; and annotated editions of Douglass’s first two autobiographies. He has worked on Douglass much of his professional life and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize, among others. He writes frequently for the popular press, including the Atlantic, the New York Times, and many other journals. His lecture course on the Civil War and Reconstruction Era at Yale is on the internet at https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119. Blight has always been a teacher first. At the beginning of his career, he spent seven years as a high school history teacher in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Blight maintains a website, including information about public lectures, books, articles, and interviews at http://www.davidwblight.com/.

Chuck Corra
Associate Director, Coalitions & Policy Research, Generation Citizen

Chuck Corra is a native Appalachian who spent the first 22 years of his life in West Virginia. Before joining Generation Citizen as the organization’s Associate Director, Coalitions & Policy Research, he worked in policy research and consulting for National Journal Research, and spent five years in Nashville working in advocacy and coalition building throughout the entire state of Tennessee.

Chuck is a graduate of Shepherd University and Michigan State College of Law, where he taught First Amendment law to high school students. He currently lives in Northern Virginia with his beloved wife, Kristen.

Andrew Wilkes
Chief Policy & Advocacy Officer, Generation Citizen

Andrew Wilkes serves as Generation Citizen’s Chief Policy & Advocacy Officer, where he leads GC’s thought leadership, coalition building, and policy initiatives as a part of the national leadership team. Andrew comes to this role with nearly ten years of experience in public policy, advocacy, and community organizing, particularly among congregations and community-based organizations. Prior to joining GC in 2017, he served as the executive director of the Drum Major Institute, a social change organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In that capacity, he executed public affairs events in Dallas, TX, and Washington D.C. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act; established the Beloved Community Initiative, a national resource on spirituality and social justice for faith communities; and relaunched the nationally renowned Marketplace of Ideas Forum – a forum for bringing policy ideas to an audience of changemakers, policy professionals, and nonprofit leaders.

As a Senior Grants Manager at The American Red Cross of Greater New York, he worked with elected officials, public agencies, and community stakeholders to administer a $45 million budget for Superstorm Sandy recovery in New York state and Connecticut. Before that, he worked at Habitat for Humanity – New York City, where he mobilized 140 faith communities across the city to serve, donate, and advocate for affordable housing.

Andrew is a graduate of Hampton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, the CORO public affairs fellowship, and is a doctoral candidate in political science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He also serves on the board of directors for the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State and Habitat for Humanity – New York State.