Listening, Learning, Rebooting: Reimagining Student Well-Being

Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and professor in the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine at Yale University. His grant-funded research focuses on: (1) the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationship quality, and mental health; (2) the measurement of emotional intelligence; and (3) the influences of emotional intelligence training on children’s and adults’ health, performance, and workplace performance and climate. Marc has published 125 scholarly articles and has received numerous awards, including the Joseph E. Zins Award for his research on social and emotional learning.

Cassandra R. Davis, Ph.D., is a research professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on the environmental disruptions to schooling, specifically the impact of natural disasters on low-income, communities of color. Dr. Davis’ ultimate goal is to support educators, community leaders, and policymakers to improve responses, preparedness, and recovery in areas with the highest need. Her most recent project focus on the impact of COVID-19 on schooling communities and First-Generation College Students.

Barbara’s career includes a long tenure in technology in roles spanning strategy, marketing and innovation, to serving as Chief Marketing Officer of several fintech companies. Her strong desire to make a difference in the world led her to join Microsoft as Vice President of Worldwide Education. Barbara is passionate about empowering all of the more than 1.5 billion students on the planet to gain the skills they need to achieve their goals. At Microsoft, she has directed her team to develop a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of students and educators, as well as school and system leaders.