Shanker Institute Welcomes Six New Board Members
WASHINGTON—The Albert Shanker Institute is pleased to announce the unanimous election of six new members to its Board of Directors: Travis J. Bristol, Zeph Capo, Sara Horowitz, Joseph A. McCartin, Elizabeth “Liz” H. Shuler, and Jessica J. Tang.
The Institute’s independent Board is comprised of educators, academics, labor leaders, and policy analysts. Board members provide strategic guidance on the Institute’s work in its three core areas of education, labor, and democracy.
“We are excited and privileged to be able to draw upon the diverse expertise and perspectives of these new board members,” says ASI Executive Director Leo Casey. “We are confident they will play a key role in shaping our agenda for many years to come.”
The six new members are:
- Travis J. Bristol: Travis is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, where his research focuses on teacher workplace environments and retention, educator professional learning communities, and the intersection of race and gender in schools.
- Zeph Capo: Zeph, a public school science teacher, is president of the Texas AFT and previously served as president of the Houston Federation of Teachers. He has served on several community boards, including a six-year term as an elected trustee of one of the largest community college systems in the United States, bringing community groups and schools together at all levels.
- Sara Horowitz: Sara is the founder and a former executive director of Freelancers Union. She has been an innovative leading voice of the growing freelance economy, creating solutions for the new workforce for over two decades. Sara was the Chair of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, received a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, and was recognized as one of the World Economic Forum’s 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow.
- Joseph A McCartin: Joseph is a professor and the executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. He is an expert on U.S. labor, social, and political history, and his scholarship focuses on the intersection of labor organization, politics, and public policy.
- Elizabeth “Liz” H. Shuler: Liz is secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, its second ranking officer. She is the first woman elected to the position, and the youngest woman ever on the federation’s Executive Council. First elected in 2009, Liz is the federation’s chief financial officer and oversees its operations.
- Jessica J. Tang: Jessica is the president of the Boston Teachers Union, representing over 10,000 active and retired educators. She is the first person of color, first openly queer and first woman in over thirty years to serve in this role. She is a co-founder of the Teacher Activist Group-Boston, Boston Education Justice Alliance, and MA Education Justice Alliance, and serves as a board member for several civic and labor groups.
A full list of ASI board members can be found here: https://www.shankerinstitute.org/board-directors
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The Albert Shanker Institute, endowed by the American Federation of Teachers and named in honor of its late president, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to three themes—children’s education, unions as an advocate for quality, and both civic education and freedom of association in the public life of democracies. Its mission is to generate ideas, foster candid exchanges and promote constructive policy proposals related to these issues.