Michael Fultz, my grad school advisor.

It’s wonderful to be invited to participate in the 10th annual Educational Policy Studies Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and to deliver this presentation, “Race and Educational History from Milwaukee to Metropolitan Hartford,” designed to illustrate how my research has evolved from my dissertation book to my current study. Great to see my grad school advisor, Michael Fultz, who taught me the value of framing writing around an insightful question about what you don’t know, rather than starting with a thesis on what you already know. It’s also been a pleasure to meet students and faculty who “recently” joined the department (defined as anytime after receiving my doctorate in 1997). Special thanks to all of the event planners, particularly Sara Goldrick-Rab, whose organizational skills and intellectual stamina amazed me, as last night’s lecture was the culminating event in the 10-day ED Talks Wisconsin series, and she live-tweeted nearly all of it, cogently!