Advancing educational effectiveness and equity!
EDUP Xcelerated Excellence

Our Episodes

March 24, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Elizabeth Power

Guest Elizabeth Power of The Trauma Informed Academy shares inspirational thoughts on how to support students and school staff who experience trauma. Her brilliant insights demystify trauma, explaining it as a human condition...

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March 24, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Dr. Ruth Best

Meet Dr. Ruth Best, Assist Dean at the California School of Education (SOE) of Alliant International University. Dr. Best participated in our Inspirational Shorts recorded during the Education 2.0 Conference, 2024 in Las Ve...

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March 26, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Casanova Green — The First-Year College Exp…

Guest ⁠Casanova Green⁠ , director of First-Year experience at ⁠Hocking College⁠ , shares his professional knowledge and passion for ensuring community college student success beginning day one. The first-year experience is vi...

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March 27, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Sylvia Badwi — Supporting Students of Diver…

Our guest, Sylvia Badwi of Agora Prep Academy discusses a unique learning environment that disrupts the traditional, factory-model of education. Agrora Prep in Canada professes a learner-centered educational approach that is ...

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March 28, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Rodney Toulson — Restorative Counseling

Guest Rodney Toulson , owner of Restorative Consulting Services, shares the importance of systemic restorative practices for schools and school districts. The outcome is a transformed learning community. Recorded at the Educa...

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March 28, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Jeannette Eastin — Supporting Grassroots In…

Guest Jeannette Eastin is the founder of Refound Education . Her passion for democratizing education lends itself to supporting families, educators, and communities with innovations and connecting them to vital resources. Jea...

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April 1, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Dr. Christopher Bonn — Educational and Assi…

Meet Dr. Christopher Bonn , President and CEO of BonFire Leadership Solutions LLC . He is a former school district superintendent, the author of Igniting Change: The BonFire Principles for Transforming Toxic Organizations , a...

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April 8, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Ty-Quan Payne — The Arts and Social Emotion…

Meet Ty-Quan Payne , Dean of School Culture at Ivy Hill Prep in Brooklyn, NY. Ivy Hill Prep is a small charter school serving grades K-5. Mr. Payne is also an artist and founder of #LovePayne Productions offering independent ...

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April 15, 2024

Inspirational Shorts with Dr. Alisha Pollard — Developing Students an…

Guest, Dr. Alisha Pollard , is President of Warriors Helping Achieve Triumph (or “WHAT”). What is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to empowering individuals of all ages through enriching experiences and knowled...

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April 22, 2024

Dr. Elsa Núñez — Leading an Elite Liberal Arts College in the Absence…

Dr. Elsa Núñez is the President of Eastern Connecticut State University , Connecticut’s only public liberal arts institution of higher education. Dr. Núñez shares her lived experiences, and those as a university president loo...

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April 29, 2024

Dr. Kevin Kumashiro — Anti-oppressive Education and the Non-neutral R…

Dr. Kevin Kumashiro , Interim Dean for the School of Education, Hofstra University , addresses the non-neutral role of schools in social equity. He explains that teaching should be seen as a collective effort, imagined differ...

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May 6, 2024

Steven Simmons—Supporting College Athletes for Financial Literacy and…

Our guest Steven Simmons , Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Nilent, NIL Enterprise Solutions , shares experiences supporting college athletes for financial literacy, wellbeing, and social media branding. Partnering w...

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May 14, 2024

Andrés Acebo—Leading NJCU from Crisis to Recovery to Revitalization

Our guest ⁠⁠Andrés Acebo⁠⁠ , Interim President of ⁠⁠New Jersey City University⁠⁠ shares how he and the NJCU community have forged a new mission and vision for what he calls a “Student Ready” college. President Acebo stresses ...

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May 20, 2024

Dr. Lisa Vollendorf—Championing Equity and Access through Quality Onl…

Our guest, Dr. Lisa Vollendorf , is the 6th President of SUNY Empire State University . Did you know that Empire State is New York’s only public, online institution of higher education? Dr. Vollendorf shares the origin of Emp...

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May 28, 2024

Dr. Ramon Goings—Supporting Doctoral Students for Successful Disserta…

Our Guest, ⁠Dr. Ramon Goings⁠ , is the founder of ⁠Done Dissertation⁠ , a consulting firm aimed at helping more than 1000 students successfully complete their dissertations in one year or less. Dr. Goings shares how his exper...

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June 3, 2024

Rodney Toulson—Helping Schools to Achieve Excellence through Restorat…

Our guest, Rodney Toulson , returns to the Xcelerated Excellence podcast. He is the founder of Restorative Consulting Service LLC . And in this episode, he outlines how restorative practice is operationalized through his cons...

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June 13, 2024

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig—Advancing Innovation and Access to Higher E…

Our guest, Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig , is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Western Michigan University (WMU). He is an internationally known scholar and a nationally recognized advocate for educational effect...

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June 26, 2024

Drs. Miriam Feldblum and Felecia Russell—Advocating for Immigrant Equ…

Our Guests are Drs. Miriam Feldblum , Co-founder and Executive Director, and Felecia Russell , Director of the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, both of the P residents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration . Their episod...

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July 3, 2024

Dr. Tyrone Howard—Equity Now: Justice, Repair, and Belonging in Schoo…

Our guest, Dr. Tyrone Howard , is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in the School of Education and Information Studies at University of California, Los Angeles ( UCLA ). He is also the immediate past-president of the American...

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July 10, 2024

Eden Strachan (Straw-n)—Supporting Girls of Color Through the Tools o…

Our Guest, Eden Strachan (Straw-n), is Executive Director of Black Girls Will Get Love, Inc . and Founder of Black Girls Don’t Get Love, LLC. She is also an award-winning journalist and filmmaker and author of the book Black...

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July 19, 2024

Dr. Margaret (Terry) Orr—Advancing Educational Leadership Preparation…

Dr. Margaret Terry Orr is Professor at Fordham University and EdD program director and Chair of the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy within the Graduate School of Education . She explains that im...

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July 27, 2024

Drs. Kimberly A. White-Smith and Sean Green—Transforming Communities …

Our guests Drs. Kimberly A. White-Smith and Sean Green are Professor and Dean and Assistant Dean for Innovation and Community Engagement, respectively for the University of San Diego’s (USD) School of Leadership and Education...

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