Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab

Sara is a nationally renowned expert in the fields of college affordability and college students’ basic needs. She is passionate about increasing educational opportunity, eliminating inequalities, and countering structural racism. Sara’s work as a researcher and advocate has earned several awards and honors, including a Carnegie Fellowship, a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, and the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award.

For nearly 20 years, Sara taught at the intersection of higher education policy and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Temple University, where she founded the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice – a nationally recognized center leading research and advocacy focused on meeting college students’ basic needs. Sara has published dozens of groundbreaking studies that sparked the #RealCollege movement and inspired federal and state legislation as well as countless privately funded programs. She has also testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Dr. Jamila Dugan

Dr. Jamila Dugan is an educator, coach, and author who has spent her career uplifting the experiences of students, families, and educators whose voices have historically been marginalized. Her work weaves together ancestral knowledge legacies, strength-based coaching approaches, and strategic thinking to open up worlds of possibility. She works with educators to align visions for creating a more abundant future to everyday impact on the next generation of leaders and students. Her academic credentials include a doctorate in Education Leadership for Equity from the University of California, Berkeley; a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from George Mason University; and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Fresno State University. As a writer and speaker, Jamila focuses on carrying on the tradition of planting seeds of inspiration for educators to enable the next generation to grow and flourish.