• Educator
• Researcher
• Mama
• Wife
• Advocate

Hello!

Dr. Erica Buchanan-Rivera (Dr. EBR) has served in education for 18 years as a teacher, an award-winning principal, director of curriculum, chief equity and inclusion officer, and adjunct professor. She was recognized as an Administrator of the Year in 2013 as a result of  her turnaround efforts during her principalship to produce a high performing international magnet school (Indianapolis, IN). Dr. EBR attended Butler University, where she received her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and Master’s in School Administration. She completed her doctoral degree at Indiana State University and her research centers identity-affirming environments. In 2020, she was recognized as the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Butler’s College of Education due to her contributions to the field of education. She has written award-winning publications, and her work has been featured in Education Week, Edutopia, MindShift, K-12 Dive, Educational Leadership Magazine, and national podcasts. Dr. EBR recently published her first book, Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity (2022), which has spread her consulting work throughout the country and internationally. Identity Affirming Classrooms is currently a bestselling book for Routledge Publishing. In 2023, Dr. EBR won the Arnold Mickens Black Excellence in Leadership Award which is given to a recipient in Central Indiana.

Outside of school systems, I am passionate about mobilizing communities to elevate racial equity. I developed Racial Dialogue Circles (RDCs) within my community, which was designed to ignite conversations about race and justice among people of various racial backgrounds. After the implementation of several circles, community members created a Racial Equity Community Network (RECN). This organization is a network that provides an entry point for people of all backgrounds to work towards rebuilding a just society. Feel free to follow RECN on Facebook.

In my personal life, I am happily married to my best friend Jesús and a proud momma to a beautiful daughter named Elise. I enjoy cooking, laughing at my husband’s witty sense of humor, all sweets with chocolate, playing hip hop on my violin, and spending time with family. I am an advocate for lupus awareness and have lived this invisible illness for over 10 years.

The critical examination of traditional norms, power structures, and curriculum is messy work, yet it is vital and necessary in the quest to generate equitable outcomes. Children are counting on our voices and watching to see how we lead inclusively. We have to learn how to place our comfort aside and fight fiercely for humanity through words, pedagogical practices, and actions.

I believe that educational leaders should prioritize the work of creating equitable environments and conditions that are conducive for learning. I am passionate about disrupting power dynamics that marginalize students and I am fortunate to be in spaces where I can intentionally hold these conversations with educators, families, and children daily.