Our Team

The MCCS team includes education professional affiliates who support the center's professional development and research activities and share a passion for creating equitable learning environments. 

Jessica Shiller

she/her/hers

Director

Phone

410-704-3282

Email

Jessica Shiller

Jessica Shiller, Ph.D., serves as the director of MCCS@TU and is a professor at the College of Education. She's worked with community schools for over a decade, often sending her students to these schools to strengthen their family and community engagement skills. Dr. Shiller is a former grant recipient of the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE), consulted for the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) and Coalition for Community Schools, and has published several articles on community schools. Her most recent, "Out of a Crisis Comes Resilience: Community School Coordinators Work Through the Pandemic to Generate Social Capital in Baltimore's Neighborhoods", appeared in the February 2024 issue of The Urban Review.

Affiliates

DeVeda Coley
Professional Development Affiliate
DeVeda has 33 years of experience in education, with 23 of those years serving as an elementary school administrator. Her career has been deeply rooted in Title I schools, some of which have now been deemed Maryland Community Schools. For the past four years, she has been immersed in community schoolwork, championing a vision where every child receives a high-quality education and is truly seen, heard, respected and valued. 

Samuel Gerald Collins, Ph.D. 
Research Affiliate
Dr. Sam Collins is a cultural anthropologist and professor at Towson University. Over the course of his career, he has explored many facets in anthropology, including urban studies, digital labor, cybernetics, futuristics, social media, built environments and design. His recent research focuses on the inequalities of an algorithmic, AI-driven world. At TU, he is a faculty fellow for interdisciplinary research and teaches courses in anthropology and cultural studies, with particular emphasis on theory and methods.

Rachel E. Durham, Ph.D.
Research Affiliate
Dr. Rachel Durham is a professor of education at Notre Dame of Maryland University and Senior Research Fellow with the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), a research-practice partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools. Her expertise includes postsecondary transitions, research-practice partnerships, community schools and immigration and education. 

Nicole Fabricant, Ph.D.
Research Affiliate
Dr. Nicole Fabricant is a cultural anthropologist and professor at Towson University. Her current research and activist work focus on extractive industries and their localized health impacts. For 16 years, she directed a participatory action research project at Benjamin Franklin High School, following a dynamic and creative group of high school students who fought against the race- and class-based health disparities and inequality of industrial expansion. The project resulted in her award-winning book, Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore.  

Claudia Galindo, Ph.D.
Research Affiliate
Dr. Claudia Galindo is a professor of education policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research examines racial/ethnic minority and poor students’ academic outcomes and school experiences, paying particular attention to Latin and immigrant populations. Claudia conducts interdisciplinary and mixed-methods research to study the implementation of educational reforms. Her current research interest is full-service community schools, a re-emerging strategy that focuses on the holistic needs of students and their families. 

Amanda Jozkowski, Ph.D., OTR/L
Research Affiliate 
Dr. Amanda Jozkowski is an associate professor and graduate program director in the Department of Occupational Therapy & Occupational Science at Towson University. Her teaching and research focus on enhancing community engagement through inclusive practices, interprofessional education and innovative uses of emerging technologies in teaching and clinical intervention, including assistive communication and generative AI. 

Elizabeth H. Morgan, Ph.D. 
Research Affiliate
Dr. Elizabeth Morgan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership and Policy at Morgan State University, with an affiliate appointment at the National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED). A community-engaged scholar, her research examines the intersections of race, disability, education and advocacy, focusing on increasing access to equitable interventions for BIPOC disability communities. She employs community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to co-develop inclusive, socially grounded solutions with families, educators and service providers.  

Liz Obara Piedramartel, Ph.D. 
Professional Development and Research Affiliate 
Dr. Liz Obara Piedramartel is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Instructional Leadership and Professional Development at Towson University. For nearly 20 years, she served as Director of Community Schools with the Bluebird Education Network in Baltimore. Liz has conducted bilingual research and programming with diverse family populations in urban settings. 

Joshua Ruffin, Ph.D. 
Research Affiliate
Dr. Joshua Ruffin is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Towson University. He’s published research on policing, corrections, and community responses to crime, focusing on historically marginalized populations and the role of community institutions in supporting justice. His work appears in journals such as Policing and Society, Journal of Urban Affairs and Journal of Criminal Justice Education. 

Roclande' White, Ed.D.
Professional Development Affiliate 
Dr. Roclande' White is a Community School practitioner and educational leader with nearly 20 years of experience advancing collective impact and equity in Maryland, DC and Ohio. Her research focuses on community school coordinators’ capacity building and partnerships, informing her of work in place-based programming, culturally responsive education, educational equity and policy implementation. Her expertise includes organizational leadership, boundary-spanning leadership and fostering authentic community through collective impact and stakeholder engagement. She is passionate about cultivating the next generation of community school leaders through community and collaboration.