Dr. Bettina Love

William F. Russell Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Dr. Bettina L. Love is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and one of the nation’s leading voices on race and education. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal, which has received numerous honors, including the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism and the National Council for Black Studies’ Anna Julia Cooper & C.L.R. James Book Award.

Her earlier book, We Want to Do More Than Survive, has sold nearly 200,000 copies and become a foundational text in classrooms nationwide. Dr. Love’s work focuses on abolitionist teaching, anti-racism, educational reparations, Black girlhood, queer youth, Hip Hop education and arts-based civic engagement.

She helped create the “In Her Hands” initiative, which distributed more than $13 million to Black women across Georgia, and co-founded DREAMS, a national research project advancing reparative approaches to education. Her work has been featured by NPR, PBS, Time, The Guardian and Education Week.

Dr. Love has received numerous honors, including recognition as a Kennedy Center Next 50 Leader, the Truth Award for Excellence in Education and the Black Girl Magic Award. She is also the author of the forthcoming children’s book Bettina and the Ball.