L4L Faculty
The Leadership for Learning program instructors include a team of core faculty widely recognized for their deep scholarship and engagement with practice as well as visiting instructors from the field. The greatest strength of the program lies in the combination of the teaching and research experience of the faculty with the working experience and insight of successful district-level leaders.
L4L Core Faculty Bios
Anthony Craig
Director, Leadership for Learning
Professor of Practice, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Policy
College of Education, University of Washington
Ed.D., University of Washington
Anthony B. Craig has served as a teacher, teacher leader, principal, and central office administrator in suburban and reservation settings in Washington state. As a practitioner and community member he strives to contribute to school systems that reflect the communities being served in ways that are equitable and just. His work in L4L and the College centers on partnering with students, leaders in the field, and faculty members to develop deeper understanding of the models of leadership practice that will truly transform school systems toward equity. As a scholar, Anthony focuses on Indigenous knowledge and models of leadership, collaborative and collective leadership, and school improvement and design that build on strengths of community culture and goals. He is a graduate of L4L Cohort 4.
Department Faculty Profile
acraig@uw.edu | Campus Box: 353600 | (206) 221-3427
Ann Ishimaru
Associate Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
College of Education, University of Washington
Ed.D., Harvard University
Ann Ishimaru’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of leadership, school-community relationships and equity-based reform in urban and “new immigrant destination” school systems. Her work examines leadership capacity for system-wide equity in the context of both district-community organizing collaborations and educational leader professional growth.
Department Faculty Profile
aishi@uw.edu | Campus Box: 353600 | (206) 543-9840
Dana Nickson
Assistant Professor, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Policy
College of Education, University of Washington
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Dana Nickson studies the intersections of racial demographic change, politics of place (e.g. suburbanization, school choice policies, histories of Black placemaking), and educational agency in U.S. metropolitan regions. Her research specifically centers Black families and students’ diverse knowledge systems and educational experiences to offer possibilities for justice-centered collaborations and practices within and across school systems. Dana is also the 2021 recipient of the American Education Research Association's Division L Education Policy and Politics Outstanding Dissertation Award.
Department Faculty Profile
dnickson@uw.edu | Campus Box: 353600
Jessica Rigby
Assistant Professor, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Policy
College of Education, University of Washington
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Jessica G. Rigby uses lenses from organizational sociology to understand the role of school and district leaders in the implementation of policy, classroom instruction, improving teacher practice, focus on equity, and influence on and of informal social networks. She has worked in schools as a teacher (middle and high school English and history), leader, and researcher. Jessica's work has been published in Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of Educational Administration, The Handbook of Urban Educational Leadership, and she has authored reports for a number of organizations including Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), Leadership Connection for Justice in Education, the San Francisco School Alliance, and several school districts. Before joining the College of Education at the University of Washington, Jessica was a postdoctoral fellow for the Middle-school Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching (MIST) project at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. There, she led two research projects: school leadership and informal social network analysis. Jessica's current work examines the organizational structures and learning needs that support school and district leaders' work for school improvement.
Department Faculty Profile
jrigby@uw.edu | Campus Box: 353600 | (206) 616-5607