Task Force on Boys in School
Meet the Team
We are a diverse group of professionals who are concerned about the longstanding and mostly unaddressed issues that many boys experience during K-12 schooling.
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Dr. Loakim Boutakidis
is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton. His university work currently involves reducing equity gaps in retention and graduation rates through the creation and assessment of evidence-based, equity-minded pedagogical programs for faculty. He formerly served as a Faculty Fellow of Student Success and Associate Dean of Student Success, and recently completed two terms as a member of the Advisory Board of the California State University’s Student Success Network. He chairs his university’s Assessment and Educational Effectiveness Committee and is Vice-Chair of the Institutional Review Board.
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Dr. Matt Englar-Carlson
s a professor of counseling and the director of the Center for Boys and Men at California State University-Fullerton. Dr. Englar-Carlson’s scholarship focuses on training helping professionals to work more effectively with boys and men across the full range of human diversity. He is the co-developer of the of Positive Psychology Positive Masculinities model that examines a prosocial and strength-based approach of understanding men. As a clinician, he has worked children, adults, and families in school, community, and university mental health settings.
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Dr. Saed D. Hill
is a Counseling Psychologist and the Assistant Director of Prevention and Masculine Engagement at the Center for Awareness, Response, and Education (CARE) at Northwestern University. Saed’s work focuses on leading collaborative efforts at Northwestern in masculine engagement programming and education around healthy masculinity which includes serving as the advisor for the Masculinity, Allyship, Reflection, Solidarity (MARS) peer education group as well as the management, implementation, and curriculum development of the NU Men Healthy Masculinity program each quarter. Saed also worked for Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) as the Senior Education and Outreach Coordinator in charge of delivering comprehensive and sex explorative sexual health programming to K-12 and college students across Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and mid-Missouri.
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Dr. Benterah C. Morton
is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of South Alabama. His research examines the role K-12 leaders play in meeting the needs of diverse populations. He explores this topic by through mentoring practices and programs, leadership training, and implementation of curriculum and instruction. Dr. Morton served as an assistant principal for 3.5 years and as a campus principal for 4.5 years. As a campus level administrator and instructional leader, he worked within the organization to promote democracy in education by developing and leading campus improvement teams consisting of parents, teachers, and community members that evaluated and informed campus policy, instructional programming, and campus culture.
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Dr. Joseph Nelson
is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Swarthmore College, and Chair of the Black Studies Program. He is also a sociologist of education, and his research to date has employed interdisciplinary frameworks to examine two interrelated strands of inquiry: (1) race, boyhood, and education, and (2) identity, culture, and school reform. For the last eight years, his scholarship has been situated within learning environments that largely serve Black students from neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, particularly single-sex schools for boys of color. His forthcoming book with Harvard Education Press is entitled, (Re)Imagining Black Boyhood: Portraits of Middle School Success, and he also recently co-edited the Routledge Handbook on Boyhood in the United States.
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Shana Pryor, M.A.
is a doctoral student of Counseling Psychology at The University of Akron. She has written articles about men’s health and masculinity, male survivors of domestic violence, and book chapters about male and female gender norms. She has spent the majority of her career focusing on issues surrounding men, masculinity, and sexual trauma. Currently, she is doing research on men, masculinity, shame, self-compassion, and help-seeking. She has clinical interests in treating men with PTSD and being involved in the field of behavioral health integrated care.
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Dr. Christopher S. Reigeluth
is an Assistant Professor at Oregon Health & Science University where he practices as a child and adolescent psychologist and teaches. He completed his doctoral training at Clark University and a fellowship at the Yale University Child Study Center. Dr. Reigeluth’s research explores the psychological implications of masculine gender socialization for boys, and his book, “The Masculinity Workbook for Teens: Discover What Being a Guy Means to You” comes out November of 2022. He previously served on the faculty at Pacific University and directed the Masculinities and Mental Health Research Group. Dr. Reigeluth’s clinical interests include boys and men’s mental health, crisis response and trauma, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Learn more at Chris Reigeluth and OSHU.
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Dr. Andrew Smiler (Co-Chair)
is an author and licensed therapist with expertise in adolescent boys, men, and masculinity. He is the author of “Is Masculinity Toxic?: A Primer for the 21st Century“, the award winning “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy,” and co-author of “The Masculine Self (6th ed)” with renowned researcher Chris Kilmartin. Dr. Smiler is a co-founder of the Healthy Masculinity Initiative, a past president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities (SPSMM), and a past president of Male Survivor: National Organization Against Male Sexual Victimization.
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Dr. Adrián H. Huerta
is a faculty member at the Pullias Center for Higher Education in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He is an expert on boys and men of color, gang-involved populations in the educational pipeline, and the high school-to-college transition. His research has been published in competitive academic journals, including the Community College Review, Journal of College Student Development, Teachers College Record, Urban Review, Urban Education, and other outlets. He is a 2022 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow for his research on former/inactive gang members who have earned college degrees. He was also awarded the Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education in 2022. He earned his PhD in Education from UCLA
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Dr. Ray Swann
is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Positive Masculinity in Melbourne, Australia. Holding a PhD in Medical Education from the University of Melbourne, he also serves as an honorary post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Swann's career spans government and independent contexts, leading initiatives in education, wellbeing programs and evidence-informed practices. As an internationally published academic and reviewer, he authored "The Seven Stories for Boys' Wellbeing" and hosts the Understanding Boys podcast. Dr. Swann founded Identity Theatre in 2002, an award-winning non-profit, conducting allied health workshops for men and creativity.