The SEL Exchange: Belonging and Engagement in Action

Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., is the inaugural Joseph W. and Alma W. Keilty Endowed Chair and professor of education at the UMass Amherst College of Education. An award-winning scholar and internationally regarded expert in the science of learning, development, and open science practices, Cipriano is the principal investigator and director of numerous major federal and foundation grants supporting the centering of student intersectional identities in research and practice, the development and validation of novel school-based assessments and methodologies, and foundational evidence syntheses. She directs the Education Collaboratory at UMass Amherst, a translational science lab whose mission is to advance the science of learning and social and emotional development, so all students are seen, served, and safe to learn in school. Cipriano received her doctorate from Boston College Lynch School of Education, her Certificate in Human Rights and International Justice from Boston College Law School, her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her undergraduate degree from Hofstra University Honors College. She is a former Yale Public Voices Fellow, a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, and serves on numerous national advisory boards, workgroups, and committees, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Understood, Special Olympics and the Frameworks Institute. She has published over 120 papers, commentaries, and reports, spanning top tier journals such as Child Development and the Review of Educational Research, and media outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, The New York Times, PBS, and Education Week. Cipriano’s rigorous and practical cross-sector communication of science is evidenced by her work being cited in multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation supporting investments in US students and educators, countless interviews, podcasts, talks, articles, and mentions in educational media over the past decade, and honors including the Joseph A. Zins Award for Career Contributions to Action Research (2022), National Voice of Change in Public Education Award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2023), Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award from the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (2024), the Distinguished Contributions to Human Development Research from the American Educational Research Association (2025), and the Outstanding Achievement Award in Educational Measurement from the National Council on Measurement in Education (2025). Dr. Cipriano embodies how to live your love forward and advance equity by bringing her positionality as a first-generation high school graduate and mother of four children to her science and work. Chris speaks candidly about her experiences navigating systems of discrimination and oppression in education, healthcare, and industry, and privileges her positionality as a catalyst to inspire change. Her book, Be Unapologetically Impatient: The Mindset Required to Change the Way We Do Things (2025) was an instant #1 New Release in Applied Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Parenting Books for Children with Disability. “Let’s take the moon and make it shine for everyone.”