Biographical Information
Dr. Shekema S. Dunlap, Georgia’s 2011 Milken National Educator, is an award-winning teacher, published writer, and national thought leader on culturally responsive education. A former charter school founder and national English education evaluator, she now leads ReLoveEd: The Future Is in the Room, an educational leadership consultancy rooted in her original theoretical framework, Revolutionary Love. Her mission: to help teachers and educational leaders build pipelines to Black teacher leadership, beginning in high school classrooms.
Dr. Dunlap earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Arkansas State University and holds a graduate certificate in Higher Education Student Affairs from East Texas A&M University. Her academic and consulting work center on equity, healing-centered practices, and the reimagining of teacher preparation through a liberatory lens. Her four tenets of Revolutionary Love—1) holding students (and ourselves) accountable, 2) holding space for students, 3) helping students heal, and 4) helping students escape multiplied oppressions--guide her speaking engagements, workshops, and systems-level partnerships.
With more than two decades of experience in education, Dr. Dunlap previously served as Founder and Executive Director of the IFE Academy of Teaching & Technology, Performance Management Administrator, and Professional Learning Administrator with the Georgia Charter Schools Association. She was elected by 30,000 members of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to serve as Secondary Section Representative-at-Large, and later as an NCTE Executive Committee member. For over six years, she audited English teacher preparation programs across the country as an NCTE SPA reviewer for CAEP.
Her pedagogical style has been featured by CNN’s Perry’s Principles, NBC’s Education Nation Teacher Town Hall, and America Achieves, a program funded by the Gates Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Known for integrating rigorous literary analysis with multimedia creation and critical reflection, Dr. Dunlap’s AP Literature courses drew students from diverse learning tracks who grew into confident, analytical thinkers under her guidance.
Dr. Dunlap has served on state-level advisory panels under Georgia Superintendent Dr. John Barge and Governor Nathan Deal, as well as on the NAEP 12th grade writing assessment team. Her voice has appeared in The New York Times’ Room for Debate, Huffington Post Education, Success at the Core, and other national platforms.
As she launches ReLoveEd, Dr. Dunlap invites school districts, state leaders, and education allies to partner with her in developing bold, culturally responsive teacher pipelines. Her rallying cry--"The future is in the room"--reminds us that transformational leadership begins by reimagining who gets to lead.
