Joseph Passi is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Purdue University Northwest. Passi's research and teaching centers on inclusion, family engagement, special education law, and sociocultural understandings of disability. Before entering higher education, he taught in Chicago Public Schools for 17 years.

Paul Thayer teaches the family-centered-care courses in the Child Life & Family-Centered Care program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. His areas of expertise include grief and loss, professional ethics, and family studies. Before joining BU Wheelock, he was a pediatric hospice director.

Janice Littlebear tutored K-8 migrant students in their Alaskan homes and taught Grades 3-8 in one of the most diverse communities in our nation for nearly two decades. Janice then worked at the University of Alaska, leading the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project in serving K-12 teachers new to the profession, helping teachers embed cultural standards and place-based strategies into everyday instruction. Dr. Littlebear continues to consult with educators about cultural pedagogy.

Michelle Parker-Katz is Clinical Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she taught teacher education on campus and Chicago Public School classrooms. She coordinated programs in elementary general education and special education. She also taught in the UIC Foundations of College Teaching Certificate program to help folks learn best practices for college teaching with community connections.