Outside of my day job teaching English to immigrants at a Maryland community college, I am an avid advocate, cat dad, community organizer, cyclist, gardener, hiker, reader, traveler and writer. He enjoys spending time with friends and family, including his wife, Mairin. We met while co-leading a delegation of Maryland high school and university students in El Salvador in 2012.

I have worked to empower multilingual immigrant students at community colleges and community-based organizations since 2013. I have a track record of innovative andragogy, teacher education and professional learning/development, curriculum design, and policy reform. I served as advisor to the Muslim Student Association and supported the student-leaders’ successful advocacy for prayer rooms on campus. I was awarded the 2024 TESOL Higher Education Teacher of the Year Award for Maryalnd.

My education includes a bachelor’s degree in history and government and a Latin American studies certificate from UMD. I earned a master’s in teaching the English language from UMBC, and I’m an online, fourth-year doctorate of education student at UVA. 

My passion for working with students also led me to co-edit a 2024 book about how teachers can better listen to their students. The book features chapters by faculty, students, and administrators. It aligns with my belief that language learning and multilingualism are powerful tools for building a more just society.\

Participating in social and political conversations is a family tradition. My grandfather Abe Silverman set a standard of what’s possible when he ran as an independent and was elected Mayor of Sedalia, Missouri in 1958. His policies advancing good governance, civil rights, public works, education, small businesses, and inclusivity, are guideposts I live by.

I believe positive social transformation comes from bottom up when people organize. Our campaign for justice, peace, ecology, and democracy is part of a larger social movement. Together, we can win concessions from those in power and build up movement formations to solidify those wins. Let’s build!