In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Erica Glover to learn more about her personal journey in education, her love for basketball, the founding of Disrupter University, and so much more! To learn more about Dr. Glover's work, you can visit the Disrupter University website at disrupteruniversity.com or you can follow her on Instagram, Twitter (@drericaglover), and LinkedIn.
BIO: Dr. Erica Glover is a servant of education, committed to equity and inclusion. Throughout her career in education, Dr. Glover has worked as an educator, administrator, and also within Human Resources. As a Disrupter, Dr. Glover’s experiences reflect a common thread of one common theme: ensuring access and opportunities for marginalized groups of people. During her time as an educator, Dr. Glover supported students learning in self-contained units, as a result of behavioral concerns and emotional disabilities. She recognized the inequities faced by students placed in her classroom, and worked to provide her students more equitable learning opportunities, where students were able to experience teaching and learning with peers.
As Dr. Glover transitioned into her role as an administrator, she remained dedicated to standing for equity and inclusion among students, teachers, and colleagues. She developed programs to support peer-to-peer mentorship, book clubs for educators within the building, alternative to suspension programs, and parent groups to support building initiatives. All the while, Dr. Glover supported colleagues with the process of reflecting on instructional practices and strategies to grow both students and educators. In 2017, Dr. Glover earned her doctorate degree in Urban Education, from Cleveland State University.
With an emphasis on Policy and Planning, Dr. Glover has transferred her learning into reimagining the ways in which we socialize future teachers (current students and pre-service teachers), and in-service teachers. Within her more recent role as a Recruitment Manager, Dr. Glover continues to develop innovative systems and processes to recruit and retain underrepresented populations of people in education. Dr. Glover is also a former Division I athlete, playing semi-professional basketball for several seasons. Her experiences as an athlete led her to coach and train youth for twelve years. During this time, she also began a boys AAU basketball program, to provide youth from urban communities the opportunity to compete without the financial burden to commit. Through AAU programming, Dr. Glover was also able to provide players with educational support needed to advance as a student-athlete in college.
