OUR TEAM

Dr. Tonikiaa Orange serves as the Co-Director for the Culture and Equity Project and as the Assistant Director for the Principal Leadership Institute at UCLA Center X. Her work focuses on providing professional learning opportunities to educators on culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy and supporting educators in developing the skills necessary to facilitate conversations around culture and race. She is a former math and science teacher and principal of a k-8 school in Los Angeles. She teaches Theories of Curriculum and Instruction and School Leader as Researcher in the Principal Leadership Institute in the Graduate School of Education and Information Science at UCLA. Her commitment to education spans over 25 years.

Dr. Rita Suh serves as the Co-Director for the Culture and Equity Project and is an adjunct professor at CSU Long Beach in the Department of Teacher Education and Department of Advanced Studies in Education and Counseling. She has held many roles: classroom teacher, intervention teacher, literacy coach, educational therapist, and special projects TOSA.

As a result of her many roles, she has garnered expertise in teacher training, building professional relationships, increasing engagement, and helping teachers use culturally and linguistically responsive instructional approaches to maximize student achievement and opportunity for all students. Dr. Suh has been a reviewer for American Educational Research Association (AERA) and has presented research and professional development for districts, universities, and research and teaching conferences.