Fellow Bios

Elysse Delia Alvarado is moving back to her hometown after teaching english in Madrid, Spain for the past two years. She studied International Relations and European Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and started her career in the nonprofit sector at Dallas based organization, Café Momentum, as an assistant to management staff. Passionate about immigrant/refugee rights, Elysse also volunteered with Madrid For Refugees to coordinate local events to connect newly arrived immigrants with their new community through language exchanges, dinners and donation drives. She is excited about serving as a fellow with Dallas Urban Leaders and working with other passionate fellows to make change in her own community. 

Suji Chung is a Southern California native. She completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA as an International Studies Development major. During her time at UCLA, she was able to dabble in a handful of education classes, which shaped her decision to pursue school counseling. Always having wanted to live in the East Coast, she decided to complete her graduate studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Currently, she is a high school counselor at a comprehensive public high school in Orange County, CA. She is (already) in the fifth year of her profession. She is lucky to say that she very much enjoys what she does and the missional work of being in a helping profession in a public school. On a larger scale, some of her interests include college/career readiness, increasing college access and success for historically disadvantaged students, and development of school-community partnerships. She is excited to spend this summer in Dallas, a city that is new to her. Outside of work, she enjoys trying new restaurants, watching movies (using Moviepass) and yoga. 

Benjamin Greenberg currently teaches 10th grade English in Pine Bluff, AR. As a first-year teacher and Teach For America corps member, he earned the distinction of District Teacher of the Month. Outside of school, he is especially passionate about ensuring every child has equal access to a high-quality arts education. Before moving to Arkansas, he served as the Development Director and Camp Director for Seven Mile Music --- a nonprofit dedicated to providing access to high-quality arts and coding education to children

Meghan Jahnke is currently a Teach for America DFW corps member, teaching 8th grade science in DISD. Prior to moving to Dallas, Meghan attended the University of Southern California, where she studied International Relations and Social Entrepreneurship. Her passion for education was sparked by creating and sustaining partnerships with South Los Angeles schools, serving as a mentor, camp counselor and executive board member for USC’s oldest philanthropy organization, Troy Camp. Her experiences thus far have allowed her to see how education policies impact students directly. She hopes to gain new knowledge of how to put policy into practice this summer in order to come into her classroom next year as a stronger leader for her students. 

Noorulanne Jan (Nora) was born and raised in Houston, Texas and left to complete a triple B.A from Texas Tech University in English, Political Science, and Sociology in 2015. She is a first generation college graduate and soon to be law student at the University of Texas School of Law. Her personal and professional goals revolve around helping those around her in every way that she possibly can: specifically in the areas of legal, education, and healthcare advocacy. She plans to use her JD to work as a legal aid attorney, while also participating in the education scene in her local area. Ideally, from experiencing the Urban Leaders Fellowship, she wants to gain skills that will allow her to seamlessly integrate policy work and nonprofit work into her future as an advocate. 

Chelsea N. Jones is a native of Dallas and has spent her professional career at the intersection of racial equity and public policy. Prior to joining the Urban Leaders Fellowship, she served as the Heinz Policy Fellow at the National League of Cities’ Race Equity and Leadership Initiative. There she conducted policy analysis, developed learning resources and facilitated racial equity training for local elected officials nationwide. Before joining the NLC, Chelsea worked on Capitol Hill in the Office of Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, advocating for the voting rights of residents of the United States territories. She has also worked within the Texas Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparity and the Texas’ Criminal Justice Department. Chelsea is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Public Policy and Management Master’s program and holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Austin.

Messeret Fessehai received her Bachelor of Arts in Pre Law from West Texas A&M University while working at the Potter County Municipal Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, as a deputy clerk. Prior to law school, Ms. Fessehai worked as an Administrative Assistant for Carrollton Police Department in the Criminal Investigations Unit. Ms. Fessehai is a rising 3L at the University of North Texas Dallas Law School, and plans to pursue a career in social justice and policy reform.

Jorgelina Marin is a Southern California native who earned a degree in Public Policy and a minor in Political Science from UC Riverside. It was at UC Riverside that she found her passion serving youth as a Program Coordinator at the Residential Halls. That passion led her to become a Teach for America corps member where she taught in Fort Worth, Texas and later in Dallas, TX. Jorgelina’s interests in education include college access, social emotional health, teacher retention, and turning around underperforming schools. She has experience working with elected officials in California. Additionally, she participated in Leadership for Educational Equity’s Policy and Advocacy Summer Fellowship as a fellow for the college access non-profit College Track. With experience in both public and private schools, she is excited to merge her passions for education, policy, and non-profits to drive change in the Dallas communities as an Urban Leaders Fellow.

Tamira Samuel has over a decade of experience in developing and leading teams throughout the education and public policy sectors. Having begun her career as a nationally-recognized teacher in Tennessee, she has served in numerous capacities working in all four corners of the U.S. including teacher leader, instructional coach, academic dean, interim school director, reading and math intervention, central office manager, lobbyist, policy associate intern for school choice, adjunct professor and special education dyslexia coach at the elementary, middle, high, and postsecondary levels. A former Miss Black Kentucky USA and USA Today, Glamour Magazine Top College Woman, she has worked with Teach for America, U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top District Grant Competition, National Board of Professional Standards, Pearson, Texas Education Agency State STAAR Committee and Assessment Consultant.

As an Education Pioneer she helped to create operations systems for the Houston Independent School District’s Professional Learning Team of the district’s top 65 teachers. Tamira has been a part of four school founding teams including her current work as the Founding Dean of Instruction and Literacy Specialist at YES Prep Northline and as a Board Vice Chair of the proposed Building Excellent School, The Collegiate School of Houston. Tamira received her Bachelors of Science in English and Masters of Art in Teaching from Austin Peay State University; Master’s in Public Policy graduate studies from Northwestern University; and graduated as the top student in her Business Fellowship Cohort in the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program at Rice University. She is married to Stephen Samuel and is the mother of twin boys.

Interests:

1. School Choice

2. School Finance

3. Teacher and Principalship certification, preparation

4. Charter school policy

5. Early childhood education; 

Staff Bios

Dallas Independent School District Trustee Dustin Marshall 

Please see Trustee Marshall's official online bio here. 

Christina Long is a former college access advisor and school counselor with passion for youth mental health, college retention, and the intersection of public health and schools. She first became committed to education during high school, while teaching theatre to 4th graders through her arts high school's outreach program. The experience prompted her to run her own summer drama program, and she remains an advocate of arts education to this day. She has since worked with students from kindergarten through postsecondary, and loves coming alongside individuals and organizations to build and implement a vision.

Christina studied Political Science and Public Affairs at UCLA, and holds an M.A. in School Counseling from Ohio State and an M.A. in Policy, Organizations, and Leadership from Stanford University. While at Stanford, she co-designed a women’s career empowerment venture at the Graduate School of Business, where she also earned a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. Christina is also an advocate of service learning and recently created a leadership training series for Stanford Engineering graduate students leading international service teams. Christina completed Urban Leaders in 2016 while researching discipline policy with the Office of Dallas Independent School District Trustee Miguel Solis, and is thrilled to be back in Dallas alongside the 2018 Fellows!