Lauren Shallish, Co-Principal Investigator, is an Associate Professor of Critical Disability Studies and Associate Chair. Dr. Shallish is an Associate Professor of Disability Studies in Education and affiliated faculty in the Africana and American Studies Departments. Her research examines the hyper-labeling of multiply-minoritized students and how constructs of ability and dis/ability are framed in higher education equity work. She teaches community-engaged courses on inclusive and social justice pedagogies, disability studies, and qualitative research. Dr. Shallish worked in higher education and urban K-12 settings, most recently as faculty at The College of New Jersey, Chief of Staff at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in the Office of Special Education in D.C. Public Schools (Early Stages and the Incarcerated Youth Program), and as a qualitative research assistant for the Center on Institutional and Social Change at Columbia University Law School. She was named a 2015 Exemplary Diversity Scholar for the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) and has been a featured keynote speaker on the topics of equity, disability studies, and higher education. She currently serves as a grant reviewer, associate journal editor, editorial reviewer, and board member for local and national organizations. She founded the first Disability Studies program at Rutgers University, is a current partner in Teaching Against Erasure, inaugural member of The Pulitzer Center’s 1619 Project Education Network, and a 2022 recipient of the Chancellor’s SEED Grant Award.