Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Ph.D., is a Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University whose work centers on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and the educational experiences of Black and Latinx students. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Ph.D. in English Education from New York University, as well as an M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is the 2024 recipient of NYU Steinhardt’s Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award. Born and raised in the South Bronx, she is also the founder and faculty sponsor of the Racial Literacy Roundtables Series and the Racial Literacy Project at Teachers College.

Sealey-Ruiz is co-author of the award-winning Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces and co-editor of All About Black Girl in Education: bell hooks and Pedagogies of Love. She is the author of two poetry collections, Love from the Vortex & Other Poems and The Peace Chronicles, and has appeared in documentaries, including work by Spike Lee.[