Introduction
Chelda Smith Kondo, PhD, (she/her/hers) identifies as a cisgender, able-bodied, Americanized Haitian womxn. Prior to joining St. Thomas, she served as an associate professor of Critical Multicultural Education at Georgia Southern University, where she was also director of the Elementary Education Master of Arts in Teaching program, a social justice education and initial licensure program that she co-founded. Her research explores intersectional justice, qualitative research, and critical and asset-based pedagogy.
Chelda currently sits on the governing board of InterAction Inc, a non-profit committed to activating and advancing Young Black, Indigenous, People of Color and their counter-narratives to build a more just, inclusive and equitable society. In 2021-2022, she was a visiting scholar at the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute (OIGI) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis where she edited and co-wrote a forthcoming book exploring the application of critical pedagogy in teacher preparation: A Pedagogy of Humanization: Preparing Elementary Teachers for Culturally Sustaining Classrooms.
Chelda is the Faculty in Residence at the Collaborative Learning School at Maxfield Elementary in St. Paul.