Renowned DEI Expert and USC Provost Professor Joins to Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Initiatives  

BALTIMORE, Dec. 10, 2024 – City Teaching Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to preparing culturally responsive and effective career educators, has named Dr. Shaun Harper as its inaugural Scholar in Residence. Harper is one of the nation’s most highly respected racial and gender equity experts and Provost Professor in the USC Rossier School of Education, Marshall School of Business, and Price School of Public Policy. 

Over the course of his career, Harper has worked with school districts across the country, universities, corporations, and agencies on issues of race, gender, and other dimensions of equity. As Scholar in Residence at City Teaching Alliance, he will leverage his expertise to strengthen the organization’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) initiatives, by:

• Providing strategic guidance to enhance DEIJ efforts across the organization.
• Designing professional learning experiences to build racial literacy and prepare residents to teach diverse learners.
• Collaborating on a long-term strategic DEIJ plan to promote inclusive recruitment, retention, and professional development.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Harper as our inaugural Scholar in Residence. With his deep expertise strengthening equity across the education sector, I am confident Dr. Harper is the right partner to ensure our educators are prepared to teach in today’s classrooms. As the education community navigates a critical teacher retention crisis and uncertainty about what changes the incoming administration will bring, now is the time to partner with experts such as Dr. Harper and build the future of education,” said Dr. Rahesha Amon, chief executive officer of City Teaching Alliance. 

“City Teaching Alliance is an extraordinary gift to urban K-12 schools in America,” Harper notes. “I am honored to play a meaningful role in raising our nation’s consciousness about this gift. Helping the Alliance further actualize its mission, goals, and commitments also excites me.”

To learn more about City Teaching Alliance, please visit cityteachingalliance.org. Follow City Teaching Alliance on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/cityteachingalliance. 

City Teaching Alliance operates teacher development and certification programs in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Dallas. With a residency year in a live classroom environment followed by three subsequent years of teaching, its programs provide practical in-class experience, sustained coaching, and a Master of Arts in Teaching—producing career educators who are deeply committed to making a lasting impact in urban classrooms. 

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