Dr. Emily Gleason is an affiliate faculty based in CU Boulder’s School of Education. She is currently the faculty director designing the new MA in Teacher Leadership through the School of Education. This stackable certificate degree is envisioned to support rural educators in Colorado and it has been inspired by close partnership with the NE BOCES. Emily has worked with university-community partnerships in urban and rural areas over the past 15 years and has a strong commitment to listening and learning from community members, such as youth and families. Emily has consistently worked in out-of-school programs with underserved communities, and she draws on her background in literacy and design for learning to support youth identities and issues of social justice in community-based spaces. Emily is interested in rooting expertise in contexts with practitioners, and is currently involved in the Belonging and Trust Study at the Crown Institute. She has a PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture from UC Berkeley and a Masters in English Literature.