Faculty, staff and alumni from Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) are featured presenters at the 2025 Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) Virtual Summit, held June 24–26. The three-day summit convenes educators, advocates and community members from across the state who are committed to advancing equity, belonging and culturally relevant and sustaining education.
Juliet Curci, CEHD assistant dean of college access and persistence, will present in two sessions alongside Temple colleagues and partners.
On Wednesday, June 25, from 2:25 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Curci and Luca Poxon, PEDC project coordinator at Temple University, will join Donna-Marie Cole-Malott, PEDC executive director and assistant professor at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, to discuss their forthcoming co-edited book, Transformative Teacher Education: Disrupting Pedagogy, Practice, and Ideology to Forge Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education. The book includes the voices of 21 Pennsylvania teacher educators who reflect on how they are integrating the Pennsylvania Certification Recommendation for Student Educators Competencies into their work. The session will be moderated by Andrea Terrero Gabbadon, a graduate of Temple’s PhD in urban education program.
On Thursday, June 26, from 10:55 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Curci, Poxon and Kelly McGinn, CEHD assistant professor in psychological studies in education, will present on building communities of practice focused on culturally relevant and sustaining education—drawing on three years of work with Pennsylvania-based teacher educators and K–12 partners.
“We are thrilled to be participating in PEDC’s sixth annual Educator Diversity Virtual Summit,” Curci shared. “Every learner in Pennsylvania deserves to experience culturally relevant and sustaining education. This means that each student is acknowledged and affirmed in the curriculum, the classroom environment and in interactions with teachers and peers. Our work at Temple helps facilitate and support Pennsylvania’s higher education and PreK-12 teachers to grow as culturally relevant and sustaining educators. Those who attend our sessions at the Summit will walk away with insights about how to learn from and build community with others while engaged in this important work.”
To learn more about the PEDC and opportunities to get involved, please visit the PEDC website.