Dr. Anna L. Green is currently the College Readiness Administrator for Atlanta Public Schools Project GRAD.  She has taught Psychology and Education courses Florida A&M University, School of Business and Industry, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College (Tallahassee, Florida) and Clark Atlanta University and Atlanta Metropolitan College (Atlanta, Georgia).  

Anna’s academic affiliations include the American Educational Research Association- Affirmative Action and Social Justice Chairperson for Learning and Cognition Division and Sisters of the Academy Institute- Past-President and Co-Founder.  She is the co-editor of Sisters of the Academy:  Emergent Black Women Scholars in Higher Education (Stylus, 2001) and Journey to the PhD.:  How to Navigate the Process as African Americans (Stylus, 2003). Anna was selected as a New Scholar for Public Democracy by the Kettering Foundation (Dayton, Ohio) for 2005-2007.  

Anna earned a doctorate degree in Educational Psychology from Florida State University, a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from Clark Atlanta University and bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Anna’s research interests are in the areas of college student learning and motivation and African American women scholars in higher education. Anna’s other research interests include the cultivation and development of students through mentoring, professional development, organizational and management skills, communication skills, and leadership training.  She believes such talents are conducive to individual growth and success and are pertinent to teaching and learning. She is also a founding member of SOTA and President-Emerita.

Dr. Tamara Bertrand Jones currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies.  She teaches courses on Student Services in Higher Education, Outcomes of Higher Education, Institutional Research, and Literature Review and Professional Writing.  Her research interests are assessment and evaluation in higher education (student affairs), culturally responsive evaluation, mentoring, Black graduate students, and the transition for graduate students to junior faculty.

 Tamara attended the University of Texas at Austin where she studied and received a degree in Journalism. Upon graduation she enrolled in the Higher Education Program at Florida State University.  After completing the master’s program, she was accepted to doctoral studies in the Research and Program Evaluation program also at Florida State University.  

Dr. Rema Reynolds is a former teacher, counselor, administrator, and currently organizes Black parents for the improvement of student achievement in various schools. Having recently earned her doctorate from the Urban Schooling division of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, Rema received the competitive University of California Office of the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship. She will further her research agenda focusing on Black families in the Psychology Department at UC Riverside. Rema is also an Assistant Professor at Azusa Pacific University teaching aspiring school counselors and school psychologists and offers support and instruction to pre-service Secondary teachers at UCLA’s teacher education program, Center X.

Rema’s research is centered in urban schools serving culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse students and families. Specifically, Rema examines issues of parent engagement as they relate to Black families and student achievement, instructional strategies educators employ to honor and incorporate literacies students bring to the classroom, cultural competencies counselors and school counselors acquire through their respective preparatory programs, and the roles of school administrators in community and civic development.   Within the last three years before finishing her doctorate, Rema was recognized with an Emerging Scholar Award at APU, was a UC ACCORD fellow, and has published five articles and presented at numerous conferences.  In her spare time, Rema enjoys sleeping.

Dr. Kaye Thompson-Rogers is an Adjunct Instructor for Extended Studies at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).  During her tenure at NCCU, Kaye has held numerous positions, which included Administrative Assistant, Academic Advisor, Director of Recruitment and Advisement, and Director of Licensure and Data Management and Visiting Assistant Professor.  She has been involved in numerous university committee assignments. Kaye worked on the University Convocation and Commencement committee for six years and Advisor for the University’s Graduate Students Association for three years. 

Kaye has a love for helping young people and adults reach their potentials. She does some of this by using her technology skills to help students and to help faculty integrate technology in their course preparation and/or teaching curriculum. Motto: Learning can never be erased...

Dr. Nia Imani Cantey is currently the Director of Home Based Services for the Department of Family & Children (DFCS) in Georgia. With over 10 years of experience in social services, Nia is an alumna of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU).  She completed her Master’s of Social Work at Florida State University and her doctoral degree in Conflict Analysis & Resolution from Nova Southeastern University.  She has studied how marginalized populations with intersecting identities negotiate their space. Nia’s research interest includes qualitative research, intersectionality, conflict analysis resolution, as well as gender studies.

Nia is a published co-author in peer reviewed journals. She is certified in Human Resources Management and has taught undergraduate courses in Social Services at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and the University of Phoenix. As the Director of Home Based Services in she is responsible for statewide implementation of prevention and intervention evidence based programs, such as SafeCare® and Intercept. Through evidence based programs Georgia hopes to strengthen vulnerable families and reduce the number of vulnerable children entering the foster care system. 

Dr. Virginia Cook Tickles is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, whose educational pathway has been paved through Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee AL (BS Mechanical Engineering, 1985), Florida Institute of Technology , Redstone Arsenal, AL (MS Systems Engineering Management, 1999), and Jackson State University, Jackson MS (PhD Urban Higher Education, 2006). 

This dynamic individual’s career encompasses 21 years as an Aerospace Engineer at NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama and two (2) years as a Visiting Professor at Tennessee State University’s and Jackson State University’s  Engineering Colleges.   With a keen interest in African American women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), her dissertation, “The Career Success of African American Women with Doctorates in STEM” documents and frames the attitudes and behaviors needed for successful STEM achievement.  Dr. Tickles continues to spread her enthusiasm throughout the STEM environment catering to designing and implementing STEM pre-college programs, STEM grant writing, and curriculum enhancements in STEM courses.  

The most impressive legacy Dr. Tickles has cultivated, with her spouse, is the strength she exhibits in encouraging the growth and development of her six (6) daughters to become educated and engaged African American female trailblazers in their own areas of expertise. Virginia was featured on the front cover of the “Black Ph. D, Ed. D. Magazine, 2008 Special Edition as a Trailblazer.  Her motto is:  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me -Philipians 4:13”.