Advisory Boards

Rachel Endo, Dean of the School of Education

Rachel Endo is Founding Dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington Tacoma, where she also holds faculty rank of Professor with tenure.

A nationally recognized scholar of Asian/American education, bilingual education, critical/decolonizing approaches to multicultural education, immigrant/refugee education, intersectional realities (especially the intersections of gendered and racialized identities), transnational studies, and urban teacher education, Endo is the author of multiple publications that have appeared in high-impact journals in education such as Bilingual Research Journal, Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, Education & Urban Society, Equity & Excellence in Education, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, The Urban Review, Urban Education, among others.

She has published several dozen articles, books, book chapters, and monographs, including The Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s: Literature for the High School Classroom (2018, Urbana, IL- The National Council of Teachers of English- winner of a Skipping Stones 2020 Award for Excellent Teaching Resource), which is widely used among educators at various levels to address urgent issues with their students around the state of civil liberties, democracy, and race relations in the United States in challenging sociopolitical times.

Jonathan Jackson

Jonathan is a Pierce County native, born and raised in Lakewood, WA. His professional experience has revolved largely around providing youth with access to resources they need in order to be successful in both their personal and academic/professional lives. Jonathan currently serves as the Executive Director for Palmer Scholars, a Pierce-County non-profit that takes a holistic approach to serving underrepresented students of color in pursuit of their educational and career goals after high school. Prior to this role, Jonathan served as the Executive Director for the Fair Housing Center of Washington, Director of Development for the Foundation for Tacoma Students, and Program Director with the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Jonathan holds a Master of Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree. Jonathan serves as the chair of the board for Friends of the Children-Tacoma, on the board for the Northwest Furniture Bank, the Executive Advisory Council for the Foundation for Tacoma Students, Pacific Lutheran University’s Alumni Board, and the University of Washington-Tacoma’s School of Education Advisory Board. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys spending time with family, weight training, and listening to audiobooks.

Amy Maharaj

Amy Maharaj has worked for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe since 2017 and is currently the Academic Affairs Instructor at Muckleshoot Tribal College. Her duties include teaching college classes, program development, and writing grants. Before she worked at the Tribal College, she was a certificated K-8 teacher who taught elementary school students, including special education. In her spare time, Amy mentors immigrant youth through a non-profit organization.

Amy completed her Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, and is currently a doctoral student in the Educational Leadership program at University of Washington Tacoma. Her educational commitments include educational equity and supporting BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, Women of Color) in education. Amy is honored to be a part of the School of Education’s Advisory Board and she hopes to bring her experience as an educator, mother, and life-long learner to promote positive changes within the educational community.

Kendra Pratchett

Kendra Pratchett serves as an Assistant Principal in the Kent School District. She is an energetic, equity focused and relationship-driven instructional leader with a passion for helping students and teachers grow, and a belief that all students can meet standards to be college, career and life ready after high school. Prior to administration, she worked with students as a high school Spanish teacher and later as a Dean of Students.

Kendra received her B.S. in World Language Education from Indiana University Bloomington and M.A. in Differentiated Instruction from Concordia University Chicago. She received her Residency Principal certification from Western Washington University.

Gerald Pumphrey

Gerald Pumphrey has held a variety of academic roles in community colleges in two states ranging from adjunct faculty to chief academic officer and leadership roles including two college presidencies and as a trustee of a private university.  His work has included extensive experience in curriculum development, workforce and economic development, public-private partnerships, institutional accreditation, governance in higher education and health care, strategic planning, mentorship of future leaders, and fundraising.  He is committed to assisting future leaders prepare for sustaining the mission of higher education in a rapidly evolving environment.

William Towey

William is an experienced technology entrepreneur, consultant, and nonprofit management executive focused on courageous large-scale systems change centered in social justice. William is currently working to improve 2-gen economic mobility at population scale for nearly 50,000 students through a cradle to career framework. As a place-based Collective Impact Model practitioner working directly with aligned funding, development, strategy, partner relationships, systems integration, data analytics, and theory he enjoys passionately putting theory into practice as a Director at the Foundation for Tacoma Students and as a grateful board member and consultant with several local nonprofit organizations. He is energized by work that is broadly-based, meaningful, and connected to complex social issues and solutions. 

Amy Van

Amy Van (she/her) is a University of Washington alum (c/o 2012) and a project manager at the Tacoma Housing Authority. She became interested in issues around education equity during her undergrad while organizing with activists among the Southeast Asian American community, particularly around improving statewide data disaggregation. Her current day job allows her to examine the intersection between the housing and education systems in effort to de-silo them and hopefully make them a little bit more equitable. She resides in Tacoma, the unceded territory of the Puyallup and Coast Salish people. She has two pups and loves pizza.

Kurt D. Hatch, Co-Chair

Bio coming soon

Michelle Arnett

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Joe Belmonte

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Ethelda Burke

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Shaun Carey

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Jeff Chamberlin

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James Crawford

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Cindy Davis

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Susan Morris

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Bernadette Ray

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Stephen Rencher

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Kristi Rivera

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Dr. Julia Aguirre, Co-Chair

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Tom Hathorn

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Elizabeth Rangel

Bio Coming soon

Ayesha Mohamed

Bio coming soon

Sunna Yi

Bio coming soon

Michael Farmer

Michael Farmer has been an educator for nearly thirty years. After spending the first ten years of his career in the classroom teaching science, history, and leadership in the Highline and Kent School Districts, Michael began his career in administration, serving one year as a Dean of Students and then moved to an assistant principal in the Tacoma School District. After four years at Stewart Middle School, Michael started Tacoma’s online high school, Tacoma Virtual Learning. In 2011, Michael became the Director of Instructional Technology and held that position through June of 2015. Michael then moved on to be the Executive Director of Innovation and Learning in the Eatonville School District. Currently, he is the superintendent of the Dieringer School District, a position he has held since 2019. Throughout Michael’s entire career, he has been an advocate for innovation and worked diligently to get more technology into the hands of more kids. Michael strongly believes that a ll students deserve an education that prepares them for the rest of the 21st Century and that technology is the key to transforming teaching and learning and ensuring equity for all students.

Cliff Schlattmann

Bio Coming Soon

Evan Barbour

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Carrie Suchy

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Michelle Tyson

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Alicia Porter

Alicia Porter's experience in teaching over 10 years has taken her through both the private and public sectors as an educator as well as successfully homeschooling two children. While a student at UW Tacoma, she worked on the Student Activities Board, and was a member of the Black Student Union. As a new entrepreneur, she has launched two new growing businesses. Her current role as an educational leader is in the Bethel School District, where she works with students as an Associated Student Body advisor and instructing Highly Capable Students daily. She is also a member of the district Equity Team. Her hobbies include ballroom dancing and hiking. 

Saiyare Refaei

Saiyare is an Iranian Chinese artist based in the traditional lands of the Puyallup people (Tacoma, Washington) whose primary mediums include community murals, printmaking, digital drawings and meticulous pointillism pen drawings. They are a member of Justseeds Artist Cooperative and strive to utilize art as a means of community building, education and healing. Saiyare graduated from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) with a BA in Environmental Studies (and minors in Anthropology, Hispanic Studies and Studio Arts) and was the previous Coordinator for Sustainability Integration in the PLU Diversity Center. They are currently a program manager at the Pierce Conservation District supporting community gardens in Pierce County, doing communications and comanaging the Farm Foundations program.