2026 Pluralistic Education Conference

Please join us at Princeton University Carl A. Fields Center for our 4th annual Pluralistic Education Conference on 10/8/26 from 9am-3pm.

Welcome - Laura Zhang-Choi of The E Pluribus Unum Project

Keynote Address - Dr. Venkat Ramaprasad, NJ Educator and Founder of Heartfirst

Keynote Address - Dr. Kim Pinckney of NJEA Consortium

The workshop presenters are:

Kelley Bova of Coalition of Natives and Allies

Sima Kumar of The E Pluribus Unum Project and a NJ Educator

Dr. Ying Lu of NYU-Steinhardt and The E Pluribus Unum Project

Dr. Rosina Lozano of Princeton University

Arla Patch of Coalition of Natives and Allies

Dr. Rosetta Treece, superintendent of Hopewell Valley Regional School District

Kate Okeson, Executive Director of the New Jersey Advisory Commission on LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity and Inclusion in Schools

This is information about our 2025, 2024 and 2023 conferences if you are interested.

Speaker biographies:

Kelley Bova was born in Sisseton, South Dakota on the Lake Traverse Reservation of the Dakota Sioux and was put up for adoption at birth. At 3 months old, she was adopted by a white couple and raised in Glenside, PA.

When Kelley turned 50, she found her birth family in South Dakota. She is the second youngest of 9 and the only one who was adopted out. Until she met her family, she never really never met another Native American -- for 50 years!

Since meeting her family 13 years ago, she has gone on a Spiritual journey of what it means to be Native American and Dakota. Kelley is learning her tribal ceremonies and ways. The one she most proud of? Becoming a Sun Dancer.

Having the experience of being removed from her culture and people and being raised in a different one has had a profound effect on her. It has given her the unique perspective of being part of two distinct cultures. She is a mother of four children and four grandchildren.

Sima Kumar is a New Jersey educator, mother, a Co-Founder and board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project (TEPUP), who testified at the Assembly and Senate Education Committee meeting in support of the Asian American and Pacific Islander curriculum. Governor Murphy signed the bill into law on January 18, 2022. She published an article in NJEA Review called “Asian American in America’s Literary Heritage,” which explored the origins of the invisibility of Asian and Asian American literature and history in the K-12 curricula. In the article, she provided a pedagogical approach for creating more inclusive curricula to meet the needs of the increasingly multiracial and multiethnic demography of students in today’s classrooms. She heads the professional development branch of The E Pluribus Unum Project (TEPUP), a nonprofit organization that serves as a hub to connect and mobilize communities across New Jersey for the purpose of transforming education to reflect our pluralistic society. Sima moderated an interdisciplinary exploration of Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences in the United States with poet Alison Roh Park and documentary filmmaker Angel Velasco Shaw, a collaborative event with Princeton Public Library. She was a guest speaker at the Center for Future Educators program at TCNJ. She received a BA from Smith College and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D. at Rutgers University.

Dr. Rosina Lozano is a historian of United States history with a research and teaching focus on Latino/a/e history, the American West, migration and immigration, and comparative studies in race and ethnicity.

Lozano's first book, An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States (University of California Press, 2018), is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States from the incorporation of the Mexican cession in 1848 through World War II, with some discussion of the following decades and present-day concerns. The nation has always been multilingual, and Spanish-language rights, in particular, have remained an important political issue into the present. The book is organized in two parts. The first five chapters argue that Spanish was a language of politics in the U.S. Southwest following the U.S. takeover. The second half of the book transitions to exploring the multifaceted use of Spanish in the twentieth century as it became a political language that instigated local and national political debates related to immigration and Americanization and aided the hemispheric interests of the nation.

An American Language received the PROSE award in Language and Linguistics (2019) and the First Book Prize from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. Lozano was featured on Al Punto with Jorge Ramos and has given numerous academic and public talks about her book.

Lozano is working on a second book, tentatively titled Intertwined Roots: Mexican Americans and Native Americans in the Southwest, which tells the story of the ever-changing relationship between Mexican Americans and Native peoples from 1848 through the 1970s. The results of U.S. policies for each of these groups are well known separately, but Intertwined Roots considers them relationally, never forgetting that their connections preceded these policies and continued to form independent of them, too. Through the comparison, the book also explores the impact of state and federal politics on ethnic identities. Triangulating the analysis of Anglos, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans offers the opportunity to understand how local and state power has shaped the Southwest against the backdrop of federal policy.

Lozano has received fellowships from the Huntington Library and the New Mexico Office of the State Historian to aid her research. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Lozano held a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation that she completed at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University.

At Princeton, Lozano is associated with the Program in Latino Studies, the Effron Center for the Study of America, and the Program in Latin American Studies.

Dr. Ying Lu is an Associate Professor of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities at NYU Steinhardt and Co-founder and board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project. Before joining NYU Steinhardt, Lu was an assistant professor at the Departments of Sociology, and Political Science at University of Colorado at Boulder. She was also a faculty affiliate at the Institute of Behavioral Science at UCB.

Her primary research interest is quantitative methodology in social and behavioral sciences, with applications in demography, health and political behavior. Her current research also includes general statistical methodology such as model selection and hypothesis testing for high dimensional data.

She has a unique interdisciplinary educational background with a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Demography from Princeton University (2005) and a Ph.D. in Statistics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009).

Kate Okeson is a dedicated educator and advocate serving as the Executive Director of the LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity Commission at the New Jersey Department of Education. Drawing on 27 years of experience as a public school art teacher, Kate champions the affirmation, acceptance and positive outcomes of LGBTQIA+ youth through targeted education and community building. Her recent work centers on empowering educators, school leaders, and communities of care to successfully and sustainably implement the letter and the spirit of New Jersey’s LGBTQIA+ inclusive education mandate with authenticity and integrity.

Arla Patch is an artist, writer of two award winning books and a certified PA teacher. Raised in Bucks Co. PA, she lived in Maine for 30 years where she was part of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Maine Wabanaki REACH. Arla is the recipient of two grants from the NJ Council for the Humanities for developing educational programming on Indigenous concerns with NJ tribal collaboration.

Arla uses art as a tool for healing and has worked with incarcerated women, breast cancer survivors, at risk teens, domestic abuse and incest survivors. She received a Quaker grant to offer mask making workshops with the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribal communities in Maine. She is a member of Doylestown Friends Meeting (Quaker) and is a grandmother to Anders and Vera. Arla is a co-founding member and the Program Coordinator for CNA.

Dr. Kim Pinckney With over 20 years in the training and education fields across K-12, government, higher ed, and industry sectors, Dr. Kim Pinckney currently leverages her performance improvement and instructional design skills as an Associate Director within the New Jersey Education Association’s Professional Development and Instructional Issues Division. As their Consortium Coordinator, she oversees the implementation of a grant to develop shareable, peer-reviewed, curricular resources inclusive of the Holocaust, Amistad, LGBTQIA+, Persons with Disabilities, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Pinckney holds an MA in Second Language Acquisition and a PhD in Instructional Design & Technology. Through KP Solutions & Consulting, LLC she is a passionate inclusive education advocate, instructional designer, and performance improvement consultant. She is also a proud Board Member of The E Pluribus Unum Project. Her research interests include exploring the intersections between learning theories, special populations, digital-age technology demands, needs assessment and evaluation best practices, and maximizing knowledge transfer.

Dr. Venkat Ramaprasad is a teacher, professor, researcher, author, consultant at Heartfirst, and public speaker melding theoretical expertise to practical implementations.​

Venkat earned his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin (2016) in Curriculum and Instruction, with a specific focus on curricular and cultural studies. His research explores how various groups have been constructed in the U.S., and how these ideas inform how youth construct identities through interactions in schools and communities.

He brings over ten years of educational experience in international, university, and secondary school settings in education to identify and solve problems.

Dr. Rosetta Treece has been an educator for 20 years. During her time in public school education, she has served as a high school English Teacher, Vice Principal, Principal, and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Treece is the Superintendent of Schools for Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Dr. Treece graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of New Jersey earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Secondary Education. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Administration and earned her Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership from Rowan University. Her doctoral thesis was on how to promote emotional intelligence in adolescents. Dr. Treece is an Advanced Nurtured Heart Trainer and a Peer Leader. She is an Attitudes in Reverse (A.I.R.) therapy dog handler and a mental health champion. She is committed to preparing teachers, support staff, and school leaders to create learning environments that are culturally responsive and that cultivate resiliency in young adults.

Laura Zhang Choi is passionate about the work at the intersections of faith and justice, educational equity, and community organizing. She is a board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project, a board member of the Asian American Education Project, a hospital chaplain and former member of the school board of Greenwich Township School District in Warren County, NJ; on the leadership team of API Rainbow Parents of PFLAG NYC/NJ; the Director of Christian Education at Stewartsville Presbyterian Church; and a homebound instructor for NJ students recovering from mental health crises. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Laura completed her Master of Divinity at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and is under care for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Her proudest title will always be Mama.

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