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FACULTY AND STAFF

Sawsan Jaber

Title:Assistant Professor
Office:Warde Academic Center
Phone:773-298-3205
Email:jaber@sxu.edu
Department:Education

Biography

Sawsan Jaber, Ph.D., is an award-winning global educator, best-selling author, equity strategist, curriculum designer, community activist and keynote speaker with more than 20 years of experience. She has held leadership positions in the U.S. and abroad and currently serves as a university professor, equity leader and high-school English teacher in Illinois. As the founder of Education Unfiltered Consulting, she partners with schools nationally and internationally to advance equity-centered practice. Jaber earned her doctorate in curriculum and instruction with a research focus on the inclusion and belonging of marginalized students. Her interdisciplinary work integrates research-based instructional design, equitable assessment, project-based learning, and culturally sustaining pedagogies aligned with global citizenship education and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Through this work, she equips learners with agency to address real-world challenges while cultivating empathy, critical thinking and a commitment to social justice. A National Board Certified Teacher, Jaber centers her scholarship on the lived experiences of Arab and Muslim students and collaborates on national and international initiatives with organizations such as Google and the National Board Association. Her impact has been recognized with numerous honors. Jaber serves on the Board of Directors for Our Voice Alliance, is a cofounder of the Arab American Education Network, is an advisory board member of the Book Love Foundation and contributes to the International Society for Technology in Education's Community Leader Network and National Council of Teachers of English's Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English. A Pulitzer Teacher Fellow, Liberated Ed Fellow, and Our Voice Alliance Fellow and Board Member, she has been featured widely at conferences, on podcasts, and in educational publications. Her writing appears in scholarly and practitioner outlets, including "Navigating Precarity in Educational Contexts" and "The Intersections of Critical Pedagogy, Critical Literacy, and Social Justice," and she is coauthor of the best-selling book "Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency." An activist scholar and co-conspirator for justice, Jaber is most passionate about fostering agency and advocacy in students and educators and nurturing global citizens committed to equity, belonging and liberation.

Education

Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction
 Concordia University Chicago,  
 Focus: Equity in Education

National Board Certification (NBCT), 2020

Certification/Licensure

  • Type 75 Supervision Certificate (Illinois); Issued June 2014
  • Highly Qualified Teaching Certificate in English and Language Arts (Grades 6-12, Illinois)
  • MS Social Science Endorsement; May 2016
  • Standard Teaching Certificate in Secondary English (Grades 6-12, New Jersey)
  • National Board Certification (NBCT); May 2020

Chair Specialized Clinical Interests

  • Equitable practices that transform educational institutions 
  • UDL 
  • Project VBased Learning 
  • Cultivating Global Citizenship
  • Transformative Use of Technology for Voice and Agency
  • Student Voice and Agency 

Courses Taught

Fall 2025: 

  • EDU 345/455: Seminar in Teaching 
  • EDU 377: Historical and Social Trends in American Schools 
  • EDGEL 401: Introduction to the Profession of Teaching

Spring 2026: 

  • EDU 377: Historical and Social Trends in American Schools 
  • EDU 345/455: Seminar in Teaching 
  • EDGCC 518: Reading and Writing in the Content Areas 
  • EDGML 506: Data Driven Instruction

Selected Honors/Awards

  • Homer Teacher of the Year (2019)
  • IDEA Teacher of the Year  (2022)
  • Pulitzer Teacher Leader Fellow (2022)
  • Illinois Teacher of the Year Finalist (2023)
  • Cook County Teacher of the Year (2023) 
  • ISTE 20 to Watch Award (2023)
  • CEL Educational Leader Award Winner (2023)
  • CEL Best Journal of the Year (2024)
  • Liberated Ed Fellowship (2025)

Presentations/Publications/Productions