Dr. Kerri Tobin
Dr. Tobin is a researcher who focuses on the effects of poverty on all facets of education, with particular interest in the intersections of race and class as they play out in classrooms and schools. Knowing that poverty impacts which schools children attends, what their teachers expect of them, and what they will ultimately go on to achieve, she helps new and pre-service teachers recognize and understand their tremendous responsibilities in the classroom.
Dr. Tobin started her teaching career in the lowest-income Congressional district in the United States and spent a decade mentoring new teachers in high-poverty schools in New York City, Philadelphia, and Nashville before pursuing her PhD. She uses the foundational social work values and ideals she learned in Penn’s MSW program to guide students to develop empowering, student-centered classroom practices.
While studying with Dr. Joseph Murphy at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Tobin developed her specific focus on children experiencing homelessness; they co-authored the book Homelessness Comes to School (Corwin Press, 2011). Dr. Tobin has since written, published, taught, and delivered professional development for teachers on the needs and experiences of this vulnerable population. Her most recent book, co-authored with Brandy Gros, Homelessness in the Classroom (DIO Press, 2021), offers teachers and other school personnel practical approaches for serving undomiciled students. Dr. Tobin’s expertise has been sought by such outlets as NPR and Politico.
Brandy Gros
Brandy Gros is a native of Rochester, NY. She holds a B.A. from SUNY Buffalo State College and an M.A. from San Diego State University. She is currently a doctoral student at LSU in Higher Education Policy and Research Administration. Brandy has 13 years of experience in higher education, including working at community colleges, the State flagship, the Louisiana State Department of Education, and most recently, at the Universities of Louisiana System office. Brandy is passionate about college access and success for disadvantaged students, first-generation, and students experiencing homelessness. She also co-authored Homelessness in the Classroom (DIO Press, 2021) with Dr. Tobin.
Chloe Le
Chloe Le is a graduate from LSU’s College of Education, with a doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction. Her research interests involve spatial production and nomadic subjectivities in immigrant communities, out-of-school learning opportunities and translingual pedagogy. She is now working as an ESL Instructional Specialist in the K-12 public school system. Her current goal is to educate herself on the ever-changing realities in public schools during the post-Covid era while contributing to the field of Teacher Education through practice-informed research and ethnographic observations.