Faculty and Staff Profiles

The National Center for Urban Education recruits nationally for top-quality administrators and faculty who are dedicated to our mission of helping students in urban America achieve their full academic and social potential.

Leadership

Dr. Julie Sweetland

Dr. Julie Sweetland, the recently-appointed founding Director of NCUE’s Urban Teacher Academy, has been actively involved in improving teaching and learning for urban students for over a decade, first as a classroom teacher, and more recently as an educational researcher, teacher educator, and local activist. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University and holds an adjunct faculty position at her alma mater. Julie completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics at Stanford University, with her dissertation research funded by the National Science Foundation. Julie's work has appeared in publications such as Journal of Sociolinguistics, Educational Researcher, and Education Week. As the former Director of Teaching and Learning at Center for Inspired Teaching, she was the key designer of the Inspired Teaching Fellows program and a leader in the educational design of the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School.

Maurice Sykes

Maurice Sykes, Director of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at UDC’s National Center for Urban Education, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in advancing high-quality early childhood education and providing strategic direction for programs and policy related to systems change and teacher professional development. Maurice formerly served as the Deputy Superintendent for the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Center for Systemic Educational Change as well as Director of the DC Public Schools’ Early Childhood Programs.  There he demonstrated his ability to take charge of change and brought significant, lasting innovations to the school system’s educational reform agenda. While at the U.S. Department of Education, Maurice advised the Department on educational policy and programs related to urban school improvement. Other significant affiliations have included Tufts University Day Care Center in Medford, MA; the Elliott Pearson Child Study Department; and the Washington, DC Education Policy Fellowship Program at the Institute for Educational Leadership.

Maurice has served as a teacher, a teacher trainer, and a curriculum developer, has written for numerous publications, and has traveled and consulted nationwide inspiring and challenging schools and communities to do the right thing for children. His leadership in the field has often been recognized nationally: Maurice was profiled in 1997 as an “Early Childhood Champion” by the National Association of State Boards of Education; and in 1999, he was elected to a four-year term to the Governing Board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. He holds a BA degree in Sociology from Wilberforce University and a MA in Early Childhood Education from Antioch College.

Faculty

Dr. Sean T. Coleman

Dr. Sean T. Coleman currently serves as the Coordinator of the Human Development Degree Program in the Center’s Early Childhood Leadership Institute. Dr. Coleman brings administrator and project management experience by formally serving  as a Performance Officer and Assessment Committee Chairperson at the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB), as well as Director of Evaluation and Training at Capstone Institute at Howard University. Through his graduate studies in psychology and at Howard University’s Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR), Dr. Coleman forged his research interest in effective transactional strategies that facilitate students’ motivation, engagement, and positive academic outcomes. Dr. Coleman began his career as an elementary school educator in Prince George’s County Public Schools and was appointed to several positions of distinction including County Professional Development Facilitator, New Teacher Induction County Committee Member, Grade-Level Chairperson, and School-Based Management Team Member. Dr. Coleman completed his undergraduate education in Criminology/Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland at College Park and received both his Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology degrees from Howard University.

Dr. Taharee Jackson

Dr. Taharee A. Jackson joined the Center in 2010 from Emory University. Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in education with specializations in urban, teacher, and multicultural education.  She also earned a magna cum laude B.A. in psychology and Spanish from Harvard University as well as a master of education degree in human development and psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Taharee has been a school director, public and private school teacher, and family literacy instructor. Her research examines the beliefs, classroom practices, and life experiences of critical, anti-racist educators who are dedicated to teaching disadvantaged students in urban schools. When not teaching, researching, or leading diversity workshops, Taharee enjoys spending time with her father and family, traveling internationally, taking culinary classes, and jogging in open, sunny spaces. More than anything, Taharee adores children and loves working with spunky youngsters at church.

Professor Auraneittia White

Professor Auraneittia White currently serves as an Elementary Master Educator for the District of Columbia Public Schools and is an adjunct faculty member in the Center for Urban Education.  An educator for over 17 years, Professor White has always worked in the urban education setting, as a teacher of students in grades kindergarten through grade 8, a Reading First literacy coach, a reading specialist, and an assistant principal.  Professor White holds a BS in Education from Temple University; a MS in Education with a specialization in reading from West Chester University; a specialist degree in education leadership from Cambridge College, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. Auraneittia’s professional interests include improving reading instruction for students with diagnosed disabilities, data-driven instruction, behavior management, and working with exceptional students. She has a passion for serving students in urban settings and a firm commitment to the teachers who educate them.

Dr. Lannette Burns Woodruff

Dr. Lannette Burns Woodruff is a Visiting Assistant Professor in UDC’s National Center for Urban Education and coordinates the Urban Teacher Academy’s graduate studies in early childhood education. Dr. Woodruff has over 30 years of experience as an educator, primarily in urban schools.  Prior to coming to UDC, she was an assistant professor at Trinity University, a senior research program coordinator at Johns Hopkins, and also served as director of the early childhood program for Howard University’s School of Education.  Dr. Woodruff has taught K-12 students in both public and private schools.  She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from Howard University.

Dr. Wynn Yarbrough

Dr. Wynn Yarbrough currently teaches a variety of courses in the English Department, the General Education program, and the Center for Urban Education. An experienced teacher at the K12 level, he has taught ESL, secondary English, college level English classes, and graduate classes in writing and literature for over twelve years from Lafayette, Louisiana to Los Angeles, California. Professor Yarbrough contributes his expertise on children’s and young adult literature to courses in the Urban Teacher Academy MAT program.
Dr. Yarbrough’s scholarship includes research on Rudyard Kipling, Langston Hughes, Kenneth Grahame, Jazz Poetics, and African-American children's poetry.  His critical book, Masculinity in Children’s Animal Stories, 1888-1928: A Critical Study of Anthropomorphic Tales by Wilde, Kipling, Potter, Grahame and Milne, was published recently by McFarland Press (2011). Dr. Yarbrough is also an accomplished author in his own right, having published poems, reviews, interviews and articles in The Potomac Review, Branches Quarterly, the Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Midwest, H_NGM_N and other literary magazines. He has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won the Louisiana College Composition Poetry Prize in 2005. His book of poetry, A Boy's Dream, is available from Pessoa Press (2011).
Wynn lives in Mount Rainier, where he is a member of the Anacostia Watershed Society as well as the Prince George's Arts and Humanities Council. He holds a BA from University of Mary Washington; a MA from Virginia Commonwealth University; a MFA from Goddard College; and a PhD from University of Louisiana at Lafayette.