Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Altheria Caldera, Class of 2018

Altheria is a proud first-generation HBCU (Stillman College) graduate whose work is rooted in her personal experiences as a Black girl growing up in Alabama. After earning her Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies, she has published nearly two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her scholarship focuses on ways educators can advance equity for students of color and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Altheria is a skilled racial equity leader and voracious learner who continues to develop her knowledge through reading the word and the world, mentoring students, and listening to counternarratives of educators and students of color. With expertise in culturally relevant pedagogies, antiracist education, education policy, and ELAR instruction, Altheria teaches future leaders as a university professor at both American University and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and also serves as a racial equity consultant through her company, Caldera & Associates Equity Consulting, LLC. 

“I'm grateful to be a part of a community of scholars and practitioners who share my antiracist values. As faculty, I work with undergraduate and graduate teacher education majors to help ensure that they have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to serve all students well. I enjoy working with students who love learning, are excited about teaching, and are committed to justice…I am motivated by the possibility of a just educational system. For more than a century, Black women have been leaders in the quest for educational justice. I'm standing on their shoulders.”

Altheria is happily married to her best friend, Francisco, and is bossed around by her pups, Koko and Kanela. She loves to bake, watch sports, read, write, and be outdoors!