Who we are

Dr. Miriam Raider-Roth is a Professor of Educational Studies and Educational & Community-Based Action Research in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services. She is the director of the Action Research Center. She also was one of the founding directors of the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture. She has taught high school and elementary school in Israel and in the US. Her research focus centers on the relational context of classroom life and the ways in which classroom relationships shape student learning and teacher practice. Her current research examines teachers’ relationships with boys and teachers’ understandings of their role as transmitters of culture. She teaches courses in classroom action research, feminist qualitative methodology, human learning, and the relational context of teaching and learning.

Dr. Lisa M. Vaughn is Professor of Pediatrics at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine/Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center with a joint appointment in the Educational Studies Community-Based Action Research PhD program at the University of Cincinnati. She is formally trained as a social psychologist. Dr. Vaughn has specific training and expertise in qualitative research methodologies and community-engaged research with a focus on health equity and wellbeing of vulnerable and immigrant families and youth. She has been involved in a number of projects either as a Principal or Co-Investigator that engage community stakeholders in the research process and use innovative, participatory methodologies. Dr. Vaughn formed the Youth Council for Suicide Prevention (advisory team and youth co-researchers from 11 local high schools) and Latinos Unidos por la Salud (Latinx immigrant community research team) who both partner in research alongside academics. She is Co-Editor of the Journal of Participatory Research Methods (JPRM). 

TraciAmanda Washington is an educator and a doctoral student in the Education and Community-Based Action Research concentration of the Educational Studies program. Over the past fifteen years, TraciAmanda has worked in schools and other education organizations as a Middle School Math teacher, administrator, leader, and consultant with students and teachers – serving PreK to 12^th grade and college undergraduates. Currently, she works as a Math Curriculum Specialist supporting Cincinnati Public School Middle School teachers. TraciAmanda is passionate about black, brown, and indigenous children, anti-racist education, and ways of liberating schooling – creating equitable spaces and opportunities for communities of color. Her research interests center New Orleans, where she was born and raised, and the consequences of charter school reform on marginalized people and communities.

Heather Gerker is a doctoral student in Educational Studies, with an emphasis on Educational Policy and Teacher Education. She has worked in the early childhood field for over ten years in many capacities: as a Montessori early childhood teacher, teacher educator, and a teacher education program director. Currently, she is a Teacher Educator with Greater Cincinnati Center for Montessori Education and West Side Montessori School Teacher Education Program in NYC. Heather is trained in Results Based Facilitation and passionate about organizing, facilitating, and connecting within communities. Her research interests include how policy impacts early education, Montessori, and teacher education