Dr. Erica Buchanan-Rivera is a fierce advocate for justice-centered work and humanizing approaches in educational environments. She has served in education for nearly 20 years as a teacher, an award-winning principal, director of curriculum, and a chief equity and inclusion officer in an urban and suburban school district. Dr. Buchanan-Rivera attended Butler University, where she received her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and Master’s in School Administration. She completed her doctoral degree from Indiana State University in 2017. Currently, Dr. Buchanan-Rivera supports school leaders and educators as an educational consultant who focuses on ideological work to support culturally responsive practices and conditions for learning. She has supported various universities as an adjunct professor, teaching courses that focus on pedagogical approaches, equity-focused leadership, and the intersection between the Reggio Emilia philosophy and antiracist work.

Dr. Buchanan-Rivera’s research centers identity-affirming environments and quantitative methods to examine inclusivity in classrooms. She has written award-winning publications, and her work has been featured in Education Week, Edutopia, MindShift, K-12 Dive, Educational Leadership Magazine, and many national podcasts, including The Brown Girls Guide to Politics. Dr. Buchanan-Rivera’s book, Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity (Routledge Publishing), has spread her reach and consulting work throughout the country and internationally. Due to her contributions in the field of education, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Butler University in 2020 and the Arnold Mickens Black Excellence Leadership Award in 2023. She strives to promote school environments where students can be their authentic selv