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Initiative for Race Research and Justice

Meet the Team

Dr. Rich Milner is the Founding Director of the Initiative for Race Research and Justice. He serves as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Education and Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt’sPeabody College. Dr. Milner is a researcher, scholar, and leader of urban education and teacher education. Recently, he delivered the fifteenth annual Brown Lecture of the American Educational Research Association. The article is now available in Educational Researcher. The second edition of his widely-read book, Start Where You Are But Don’t Stay There: Understanding Diversity, Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today’s Classrooms was published in 2020.

 

Dr. Ira Murray is the Associate Director of Research and Development of the Initiative for Race Research and Justice.  He is an experienced nonprofit executive, researcher, and urban education scholar.  Prior to joining RRJ, he was President & CEO of United Way of the Capital Area in Jackson, MS, where his work primarily focused on early childhood development, education equity, and family economic mobility.

 

Piersen Briggs, M.Ed joins RRJ from Vanderbilt Student Affairs. She graduated from Spelman College with a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology and received her M.Ed. in Learning, Diversity, and Urban Studies from Peabody College. Her areas of research include anti-Black racism in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the formation of Black women’s racial identity while attending predominantly white, private, high schools.

 

Laura Parks is a Graduate Research Associate for RRJ and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Laura is pursuing her Ph.D. in Justice and Diversity in Education, and she is interested in student voice, equitable discipline, and teacher preparation – particularly in urban education settings. Her current research aims to study how listening to – and working with – students can improve school culture, disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, and improve teacher preparation.