Expanding Perspectives, Leading Positive Change

The Intellectual Contribution Award recognizes graduating Ed.M. students (two from each master’s degree program) whose dedication to scholarship enhanced HGSE’s academic community and positively affected fellow students. All recipients were nominated by their classmates based on who inspired them, helped them gain a different perspective on education's challenges, and contributed to shared learning and intellectual growth, both inside and outside of the classroom. Each program's faculty directors, in consultation with other faculty and staff, selected the final honorees for their program based on the nominations and on demonstrated academic success.

Rosa Maria Martinez and Shani Shay will be honored with the Intellectual Contribution Award for the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) Program during HGSE Convocation exercises on May 22. Below, our faculty members comment on the selections, and we asked the winners about their time at HGSE, their future goals, and their approach to impacting the field of education.

Rosa Maria Martinez, Ed.M.'24

"Rosa has shown herself to be an impactful, compassionate, and inclusive leader. Her peers have lifted up her asset-based approach, her ability to create open and safe spaces for learning, and her purposeful work on improving outcomes for youth with disabilities in Massachusetts. Additionally, her peers have proudly praised Rosa’s experience and perspective as a first-gen student and the ways she has successfully used her lived experience to lead HGSE’s First Generation Student Organization as their president. We are grateful for her authenticity and the ways in which this allowed others to feel seen and heard. We can’t wait to watch the ways she continues to positively impact the field of education." — The ELOE Faculty Team

What brought you to HGSE, and what was your goal in coming here?  I am a Chicana, first-generation, low-income woman of color from a mixed-status family and the eldest daughter of immigrant farm workers equipped with the knowledge, lived experience, and determination to make transformative change in my community and the education sector. ... My primary interests center on expanding and reaffirming student success pipelines at the cross-section of public policy and public health through a focus on students' access to basic needs, support services, and critical policy analysis. Fundamentally I want to equip students with the tools and language to affirm and contextualize their lived experiences while institutionalizing best practices and systems that address gaps within student belonging, support, and academic success.

What surprised you about your time at HGSE?  I was surprised by the amazing community and the deep friendships I was able to form during my time here at HGSE. As a first-generation student moving to the East Coast for the first time, I feared not being able to find safe spaces and people where I could express myself authentically. Not only have I found lifelong friends but a strong, brilliant, and inspiring network of peers and mentors. 

Is there any professor or class that significantly shaped your experience? Lecturer Alexis Redding, who taught College Student Development, and Lecturer Jaein Lee, who taught a course on Equitable Practices for First-Generation Students of Color, incredibly impacted my experience at HGSE. These two instructors embody compassionate leadership while spearheading equity and belonging work through their research and intentional course content and facilitation construction. I could not imagine my experience here without them.  

What are your post-HGSE plans? Where are you hoping to make the most impact? This summer, I have the pleasure of being a teaching fellow for the Foundations course How People Learn. I am seeking to continue doing student success and diversity, equity, and inclusion work in higher education institutions and eventually pursue an Ed.L.D. My long-term goal is to be a dean of student affairs while continuing to embody the philosophy that students deserve spaces for authentic expression, compassionate leadership, and holistic, comprehensive care. I feel confident this master's program has equipped me with the wisdom, knowledge, and know-how to get where I need to be. My hope is to impact the support programs and degree attainment rates for first-generation, low-income, Black Indigenous People of Color in higher education through community and research-informed practices and policies centering basic needs and civic engagement.

Shani Shay, Ed.M.'24

"With a focus on deepening our understanding and expanding our perspectives on incarcerated youth, Shani has brought truth and vulnerability to the classroom that has created space for dialogue, especially across differences. Her peers describe her as brilliant, resilient, and courageous and commend her for her commitment to education, abolition, and justice. One of her peers said, 'Shani is unapologetically herself, grounded in her experience and expertise and is not afraid to share out and make you think differently about the world.' We agree and we look forward to the many ways that Shani will use education to positively change the world." — The ELOE Faculty Team

What is something that you learned this year that you will take with you throughout your career in education? I learned that many of us have great intentions and powerful ideas, but we don’t know just how powerful we are.  I am going to take that with me as I move through my work and the world — that we need to be empowered when we are trying to do the right thing.

How did your HGSE experience shape your work or your goals? It allowed me access to a spectrum of students and faculty who were well practiced. HGSE motivated me to dream really big and use the Harvard name to break down barriers!  

Is there any professor or class that significantly shaped your experience? All my classes shaped my experience. So I am honestly grateful to every teacher professor I had access to. But since I must choose Dr. Shawn Ginwright was the most impactful because I know his work from Oakland, California, and because he’s like a “me” in the future — everything he has done I want to do.  

What are your post-HGSE plans? Where are you hoping to make the most impact? I want to be the secretary of education for the United States. I really want to overhaul the education system so that people believe in education and the power it has to create positive change. Education literally changed my life, so I want to see an education system where youth are not pushed out, teachers are not burned out, and we actually use it for liberation and the building of civilization.