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  Rachel M. Perera

  Rachel M. Perera is a fellow in the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. Her research examines how racial and socioeconomic inequalities develop in K-12 education and the consequences of policies designed to reduce educational inequality. Her current work focuses on civil rights and education, school discipline, and COVID-19 recovery. She also studies the politics of education policymaking, examining issues related to private school choice and charter schools as well as school boards.

  She earned her PhD in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, where she was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. Perera also holds an M.P.A. from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and a B.A. in history and political science from Hofstra University. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Perera spent five years with Teach For America, most recently serving as director of research partnerships.

  Rachel M. Perera

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  Leticia Bode

  Leticia Bode (PhD University of Wisconsin) is a Professor in the Communication, Culture, and Technology master’s program at Georgetown University, and the research director for the Knight-Georgetown Institute. She researches the intersection of communication, technology, attitudes, and behavior, emphasizing the role communication and information technologies may play in the acquisition, use, effects, and implications of both information and misinformation.

  Leticia Bode

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  Wilfred Codrington III

  Wilfred U. Codrington III is the Dean’s Research Scholar and Associate Professor of law at Brooklyn Law School. There he teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional theory, and election law, which correspond to his research in constitutional theory and reform; voting, elections, and the law of democracy; and race and antidiscrimination. Currently a Visiting Associate Professor of law at Texas A&M University School of Law, Professor Codrington is also a non-resident fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at N.Y.U. School of Law, where worked full-time as the inaugural Bernard and Anne Spitzer Fellow and Counsel prior to joining the Brooklyn Law School faculty. He is the co-author of The People’s Constitution: 200 Years, 27 Amendments, and the Promise of a More Perfect Union (The New Press 2021), a book that examines the history and future of constitutional change in the United States, as well as a contributing author of The Oxford Handbook of American Election Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2024). Professor Codrington’s scholarship has appeared in the N.Y.U. Law Review, Columbia Law Journal Forum, N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change, and Kentucky Law Journal, among other legal journals. He is a frequent commentator on legal matters for national and international press, and has written op-eds including for the Atlantic, Slate, and The American Prospect, in addition to several articles, reports, and essays in his areas of expertise. Professor Codrington was previously a litigation associate at a DLA Piper, a law clerk for the late Hon. Deborah Anne Batts, U.S. District Judge (S.D.N.Y.), and a congressional staffer for the Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). He lives in Brooklyn.

  Wilfred Codrington III

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  Susan Page

  Susan Page, the Washington Bureau chief of USA TODAY, is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author. Her latest book, The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters, is being published by Simon & Schuster in April 2024. Her previous books include Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power and The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, both New York Times bestsellers.

  Susan is covering her twelfth presidential election in 2024. She has interviewed the past ten presidents (three after they left the White House and one before he moved in) and reported from six continents. She has won every journalism award given specifically for White House coverage and served as president of the White House Correspondents.

  Susan Page

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  Olivia Julianna

  Olivia Julianna is an abortion rights activist, democracy organizer, and political influencer from Houston, Texas. With over 1 million followers across TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram her content has accumulated over 1 billion views, changing the political landscape and putting youth voices front and center in the fight for our future.

  She came to national prominence for initiating the takedown of a whistleblower website that targeted those in the state of Texas who aided in abortion access, and for raising $2.2 million for abortion funds after she was publicly attacked by Republican Congressman Matt Gatez.

  She has facilitated collaborations with elected officials like Governors Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer, Congress Members Jasmine Crockett, Jamaal Bowman, and Vice President Kamala Harris.

  She’s been awarded the Ms. Foundation Marie C Wilson Emerging Leader award and the Planned Parenthood South East Legends in the Making award, which had previously been won by Cecile Richards and Congressman John Lewis.

  Olivia Julianna

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  Robert Kim

  Robert Kim, Esq. is a leading expert in education law and policy in the United States and the executive director of Education Law Center, one of the nation’s few legal advocacy organizations dedicated exclusively to advancing and protecting public education and the rights of public school students nationwide. In 2020, he served as a member of the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team. From 2011 through 2016, he served in the Obama Administration as deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, which enforces federal civil rights laws in K-12 and postsecondary institutions nationwide. Earlier in his career, Kim served as a senior policy analyst at the National Education Association and as a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Kim has written extensively on a wide range of legal and policy issues impacting public education, including as a regular columnist in Phi Delta Kappan. He is the co-author of several graduate-level textbooks, including Education and the Law, 6th ed. (West Academic Publishing, 2024), and author of Elevating Equity and Justice: Ten U.S. Supreme Court Cases Every Teacher Should Know (Heinemann, 2020). In 2023, Kim received the Bicentennial Medal for Distinguished Achievement from Williams College, his alma mater.

  Robert Kim

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  Muzaffar Chishti

  Muzaffar Chishti, a lawyer, is a Senior Fellow at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and Director of MPI’s office at New York University School of Law.

  Prior to joining MPI, Mr. Chishti was Director of the Immigration Project of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees (UNITE).

  He has authored or coauthored a number of publications on US immigration admission policies, immigration enforcement, and rights of immigrants.

  Mr. Chishti serves on the boards of directors of the New York Immigration Coalition and the Asian American Federation. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Immigration Forum and the National Immigration Law Center, and as a member of the American Bar Association’s Coordinating Committee on Immigration.

  He has testified extensively on immigration policy issues before Congress and is frequently quoted in the media. In 1992, as part of a U.S. team, he assisted the Russian Parliament in drafting its legislation on forced migrants and refugees. He is a recipient of the New York State Governor’s Award for Outstanding Asian Americans, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

  Mr. Chishti was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; the University of Delhi; Cornell Law School; and the Columbia School of International Affairs.

  Muzaffar Chishti

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  Oren Etzioni

  Dr. Oren Etzioni is the founder of TrueMedia.org, a nonprofit fighting political deepfakes. He was the Founding Chief Executive Officer at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), having served as CEO from its inception in 2013 until late 2022. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington where he helped to pioneer meta-search, online comparison shopping, machine reading, and open information extraction. He has authored several award-winning technical papers, achieving an H-index of 100 (100 technical papers each cited over 100 times). Finally, he is a technical director of the AI2 Incubator and a Venture Partner at Madrona. He has founded several companies including Farecast (acquired by Microsoft).

  Oren Etzioni

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  Dr. Sonya Douglass

  Sonya Douglass, Ed.D. is Professor of Education Leadership and Vice Chair of the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include: education policy, politics, and leadership; school segregation and desegregation; critical race theory in education; Black and African American education and leadership; and leadership for social justice. She has published more than 20 journal articles and five books including: Learning in a Burning House: Inequality, Ideology, and (Dis)integration (Teachers College Press, 2011) and The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality: Possibilities Toward Democratic Schooling (Routledge, 2019).

  Professor Douglass also serves as Founding Director of the Black Education Research Center (BERC) at Teachers College, which analyzes and conducts research focused on improving the educational experiences and outcomes of Black students in the U.S. and throughout the world. In this role, she serves as principal investigator of New York City’s Education Equity Action Plan, a $25 million initiative funded by the New York City Council for the development of a Black studies curriculum and professional learning plan for New York City Public Schools.

  Douglass serves as faculty coordinator for the United States-South Africa Racial Justice Fellowship Program, a partnership between Teachers College and University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) funded by the U.S. Department of State, and board member for the Lemann Center for Leadership and Equity in Education (Centro Lemann de Liderança Para Equidade Na Educação) headquartered in Brazil.

  Her current research focuses on how executive and systems-level leaders understand and develop their capacity and capabilities to lead organizations for racial equity and social justice.

  Dr. Sonya Douglass

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  Errin Haines

  Errin Haines is editor at large and a founding mother of The 19th, a nonprofit, independent newsroom focused on the intersection of gender, politics and policy. She is also an MSNBC Contributor. Prior to joining The 19th, Errin was national writer on race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. She has also worked at The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Orlando Sentinel. Errin’s expertise on issues of race, gender and politics make her a sought-after voice and thought leader in her industry. She has taught classes on race, gender and the 2020 election at the Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Princeton University. Errin is currently writing her first book, exploring the growth of Black women’s power and leadership.

  A native of Atlanta, Errin is based in Philadelphia.

  Errin Haines

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  Jessica Gonzalez Rojas

  New York State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (Democrat/Working Families Party) represents the 34th Assembly District, which includes the diverse communities of Astoria, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside in Queens County. She has dedicated her life to fighting for immigrant rights, racial justice, LGBTQ liberation, health care access, labor power, and gender equity while forging connections between various progressive movements. Jessica is a progressive champion and brings her advocacy and organizing expertise to her work as an Assemblymember.

  Since she assumed office in 2021, Assemblymember González-Rojas has introduced and passed several pieces of legislation on maternal health, transgender rights, transit access, election reform, worker protections, gun violence prevention, healthcare transparency, and more. She has also successfully advocated for funding in the state budget to increase outreach for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment in hard-to-reach communities, assistance to homeowners impacted by Hurricane Ida, and to require private insurers to cover all abortions at no cost to patients. In 2023, she was the lead Assembly champion on the universal school meals campaign, resulting in an investment of $135 million to provide free breakfast and lunch to 81% of New York’s students. Assemblymember González-Rojas is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Trafficking and Co-Chair of the Climate Action and Environmental Justice Subcommittee of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus. She currently serves as the North East Region Chair on the Board of Directors of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) and serves on the Board of Directors of If/When/How, a national nonprofit network of law students and lawyers committed to reproductive justice.

  Before running for office, Jessica served in leadership for 13 years at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (formerly the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health), including as Executive Director. The nonprofit is the only national reproductive justice organization dedicated to building power among Latinas to advance the health, dignity, and justice of over 30 million Latinas across the country. Jessica is currently adjunct faculty at New York University (NYU) School of Law and has served as adjunct faculty at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) City College. She has taught courses on Latinidad, reproductive rights, and gender and sexuality. She recently co-instructed a course at the New York University School of Law. She has authored essays in multiple publications on those topics as well. Jessica holds a master’s degree from the NYU Wagner School, with a concentration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Public Policy, a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Executive Leadership Program at the Columbia University Business School, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude. Jessica lives with her partner and their son in Jackson Heights.

  Jessica Gonzalez Rojas

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  Costas Panagopoulos

  Dr. Costas Panagopoulos is professor of political science and chair in the Department of Political Science in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University, where he was previously director of big data and quantitative initiatives. A leading expert on campaigns and elections, voting behavior, political psychology, campaign finance, and experimental research, Dr. Panagopoulos has been part of the Decision Desk team at NBC News since the 2006 election cycle. He is also editor of American Politics Research, a peer-reviewed journal published by Sage.

  Panagopoulos came to Northeastern from Fordham University where he was a professor in the political science department, director and founder of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy and the graduate program in elections and campaign management, and an adjunct professor of quantitative methods at Columbia University. In 2015-2016, Dr. Panagopoulos was visiting professor of political science and resident fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. He was selected by the American Political Science Association as a Congressional Fellow during 2004-2005, and he served in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).

  Panagopoulos is the author of over 100 scholarly articles published in outlets including: American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Psychology, Presidential Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, American Politics Research, PS: Political Science and Politics, Women & Politics, the Journal of Social and Political Psychology, Social Influence, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, and the Journal of Political Marketing. He is also author of Bases Loaded: How US Presidential Campaigns Are Changing and Why It Matters (Oxford University Press), Political Campaigns: Concepts, Contexts, and Consequences (Oxford University Press) and coauthor of A Citizen’s Guide to U.S. Elections: Empowering Democracy in America (Routledge). He is also editor of Rewiring Politics: Presidential Nominating Conventions in the Media Age (LSU Press), Politicking Online: The Transformation of Election Campaign Communications (Rutgers University Press), and Public Financing in American Elections (Temple University Press) and coauthor (with Joshua Schank) of All Roads Lead to Congress: The $300 Billion Fight Over Highway Funding (CQ Press).

  Panagopoulos has received over $1 million in grant support for his research as well numerous awards including the Robert H. Durr Award for “Best Paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association that applies quantitative methods to a substantive problem” in 2014, the “Best Paper published in Political Research Quarterly in 2014,” and the Miller Prize for “Best Paper published in Political Analysis in 2013.”

  Previously, Dr. Panagopoulos was a research associate at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 2006. He previously founded and directed the master’s program in political campaign management in the Department of Politics at New York University. Panagopoulos has also been a visiting scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University and scholar-in-residence in the Department of Government at American University. He has also been a visiting research scholar at the Institute for Politics, the Internet and Democracy at the Graduate School for Political Management at George Washington University and is a research fellow at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, both in Washington, D.C.

  Dr. Panagopoulos has provided extensive analysis and commentary for print and broadcast media outlets including: CNN, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, BBC, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

  Panagopoulos has provided strategic advice to numerous candidates running for federal, state and local offices or in international elections. The former editor-in-chief of Campaigns & Elections magazine, Panagopoulos has also served on the board of directors of the American Association of Political Consultants.

  Costas Panagopoulos

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  Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

  Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, based in Austin, reports on Texas politics and government for NPR’s The Texas Newsroom. In 2023, Sergio was part of NPR’s first-ever bilingual broadcast of the State of the Union.

  Prior to moving to Austin, Sergio worked for the nonprofit news outlet Bridge Michigan, where he reported extensively on the state’s inaugural redistricting commission, campaign finance and state government. He’s won multiple accolades, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for a story he did on mariachi education while covering politics for Nashville Public Radio.

  Sergio is a Puerto Rico native and a graduate of Michigan State University.

  Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

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  Lisa Desjardins

  Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work.

  She specializes in breaking down complex stories and political disagreements into the key pieces that matter, often translating numbers and fiscal information into accessible stories for the audience.

  Prior to joining NewsHour, Desjardins spent nearly ten years with CNN as a senior correspondent and Capitol Hill reporter. Prior to CNN, she reported for the Associated Press, WBTW-TV, WIS-TV, WTS-TV, Reuters, and The Sun News. At WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, she broke news of the compromise to bring down the Confederate flag from the state house dome.

  Desjardins earned a bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She also received a first level graduate degree in Russian Studies from the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia.

  Desjardins’ reporting during and after the January 6th Capitol insurrection was the recipient of a Peabody Award, the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Joan S. Barone Award, and the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. She is also the recipient of a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 election and a Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for national breaking news for coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

  Lisa Desjardins

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  Maya Kornberg

  Dr. Maya Kornberg is a political scientist in the Elections and Government Program at the NYU Brennan Center for Justice, where she leads work on information and misinformation in politics, violence against women in politics, Congress and civic engagement. During the 2022 U.S. midterm election, she managed the “Midterm Monitor” project, a collaboration between the Brennan Center and the German Marshall Fund, which included an interactive dashboard to track the social media conversation about the 2022 midterm election. She has worked on democratic governance issues at nonprofits, international organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions.

  Maya has taught undergraduate and graduate political science courses at NYU, Georgetown, and American University. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Scientific American, CSPAN, Newsweek, the Hill, Slate and her work has been cited in the New York Times, Bloomberg, The Saturday Evening Post, Ms. Magazine and other outlets. She is the author of the recent book Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in Lawmaking (Columbia University Press, 2023.) She holds a BA from Stanford University, an MPA from Columbia University, and a PhD in politics from Oxford University.

  Maya Kornberg

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  Tara Setmayer

  Tara Setmayer is a former CNN political commentator, contributor to ABC News and former GOP Communications Director on Capitol Hill.

  She is a senior advisor for The Lincoln Project and hosts the live show The Breakdown along side co-founder Rick Wilson.

  Setmayer is currently a Resident Scholar at the UVA Center for Politics. Prior to joining UVA, she was a Harvard Institute of Politics Resident Fellow in 2020.

  She’s appeared numerous times on ABC’s The View as a guest host, contributed to ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline programs and has joined HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on several occasions. She regularly appears as an on air commentator on MSNBC and other various news outlets.

  After spending 27 years with the Republican Party, Setmayer publicly left the GOP in November 2020 after Donald Trump refused to concede the election to Joe Biden.

  Tara Setmayer

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  Jonah Goldberg

  Jonah Goldberg is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty. In 2019, he left National Review magazine after a 21-year stint to cofound The Dispatch, where he is editor-in-chief. He has been a weekly columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2005 and a nationally syndicated columnist since 2000. His syndicated column appears regularly in many of America’s leading newspapers. He hosts the popular podcast The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg. He is a CNN commentator and the author of three New York Times bestsellers. The Atlantic magazine has named him one of the top fifty political commentators in America. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife, Jessica Gavora, and three animals that are more famous and well-liked than he is.

  Jonah Goldberg

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  Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz

  Dr. Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz is a historian of education reform and school policy and associate professor in the Educational Foundations and Research Program at the University of North Dakota. She is the author of many articles and books, including the award-winning book Blaming Teachers: Professionalization Policies and the Failure of Reform in American History. Dr. D'Amico Pawlewicz's essays frequently appear in national newspapers and magazines. In recognition of her work in this area and commitment to public scholarship, she also currently serves as an editor of which is published by .

  Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz

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  Astead Herndon

  Astead W. Herndon is a national politics reporter for the New York Times and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.” Herndon was an integral part of The Times’s political coverage in the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential elections — anchoring The Times’s coverage of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. Before joining The New York Times, Herndon held several reporter positions at The Boston Globe, including as a national politics reporter in the Washington bureau, covering the Trump White House. His work, on white grievance and grassroots voters, was included in The New York Times package that was named a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes. Herndon is also a political analyst for CNN.

  Astead Herndon

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  Alicia Caldwell

  Alicia A. Caldwell covers immigration for The Wall Street Journal, focusing on everything from border security to the impacts of immigration inside the U.S. She joined the Journal from the Associated Press in August 2017. Alicia has reported on immigration since 2005, starting at the border in El Paso, Texas, before moving to Washington and now Los Angeles. She started her career as a crime reporter in Philadelphia and later Orlando, Fla. Alicia is a proud graduate of the University of Arizona and also earned a master's degree in journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

  Alicia Caldwell

A part of the Newmark Civic Life Series of Recanati-Kaplan Talks