Emily Chandler is a special education teacher at a D75 school where she teaches a wide range of subjects based on the evolving needs of her students. Over the years, she has taught everything from ELA and financial math to environmental science. While many of her students were not initially on a Regents diploma track, her efforts have helped them achieve remarkable academic success–including an 80% pass rate in ELA. Emily attributes much of her success to her use of a project-based, cross-disciplinary curriculum and actively creates opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning outside the classroom. For example, she partnered with the Morgan Book Project to guide students through a thousand-year-old book-making process integrating ELA with art, math, history, and science. Even when not working with formal partnerships, Emily takes full advantage of New York City’s rich educational landscape, attending numerous workshops and leading field trips to museums and cultural institutions.

Mark Dunetz began his career as an educator teaching English as a second language and social studies in New York City public schools. In his two decades working in education, Mark has worked as a program evaluator, an educational consultant and a professor of research methods and educational administration. He first worked at New Visions for Public Schools in 2006 when he supported the implementation of the organization’s first certification program for aspiring school administrators. While at New Visions, Mark also led the design of the first public high school to provide pathways to students from underrepresented communities into well-paid “below the line” careers in New York City’s television and film industry. Mark served as the founding principal of the Academy for Careers in Television and Film from 2008 until 2013 as it developed into one of the city’s most academically successful non-selective high schools.

In 2013, Mark returned to New Visions as Vice President for School Support and Operations responsible for leading the organization’s partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the support of 80 partner schools. To strengthen this work, he led a significant expansion of the organization’s data and analytics capacity, the launch of a software development team and the creation of open source high school curriculum in core subjects. In 2016, Mark was selected to replace Robert L. Hughes as the president of New Visions. Mark holds a B.A. in U.S. History from the University of California, Santa Cruz; an M.A. in Teaching Speakers of Other Languages from New York University; and a Ph.D. in Urban Education with a concentration in education policy from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mark sits on the boards of the New York City Charter School Center and The Research Alliance for New York City Schools.

Pam is the Executive Director of the New York region of Facing History and Ourselves. She joined Facing History in 1998 and served as Facing History’s New York Director of Development and Associate Director of Advancement until 2018. As a key member of the senior leadership team, Pam provided strategy and vision for the growth of Facing History in the region.

Pam also represents Facing History at regional and national conferences and has led fundraising and programming efforts for organization-wide projects, contributing to the increase in the number of schools and communities served.

Before Pam joined Facing History, she earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and taught humanities and French as a middle school teacher. She was also the Director of Breakthrough Cambridge, MA, an academic enrichment program for talented, low-income, middle school students.

Dr. Betty A. Rosa is the Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York. Prior to serving as Commissioner and Interim Commissioner, she served as the Chancellor and Member of the Board of Regents. Dr. Rosa is a nationally recognized education leader and received an Ed. M. and Ed. D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University.

She also holds two other Master of Science in Education degrees, one in Administration and Supervision and the other in Bilingual Education from the City College of New York and Lehman College, respectively, and a B.A. in psychology from the City College of New York. She has more than 30 years of instructional and administrative experience with an expertise in inclusive education, cooperative teaching models, student achievement, and policy implementation.