Public School Teachers Named Yale National Fellows for 2026
New Haven..... Sixty-four public school teachers—representing eighteen school districts in twelve states, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the District of Columbia—will serve as Yale National Fellows for 2026. The Fellows will participate in national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.
Fifty-one of the teachers are from school districts that are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for Anchorage, AK; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; Navajo Nation, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San José, CA; Tulsa, OK; Bryan and Hearne, TX; and Washington, D.C. Other National Fellows come from existing Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; New Haven, CT; and Philadelphia, PA. Nearly half of the National Fellows are participating in national seminars for the first time.
National seminars are led by Yale faculty. They provide public school teachers deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach. Faculty and Fellows engage in seminars as colleagues sharing the common ground of being teachers. Each Fellow writes a curriculum unit aligned to their district's standards to teach their students about the seminar subject. Upon completion, the units are shared on our website.
The 2026 seminars are:
"Asian American History and the Making of the US Immigration System," led by Mary Lui, Professor of American Studies and History
"Asking Questions in Biology," led by Paul Turner, Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
"Chemistry of Cooking," led by Gary Brudvig, Professor of Chemistry and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
"Latinx Histories, Cultures, and Communities," led by Albert Laguna, Associate Professor of Ethnicity, Race & Migration and American Studies
"The Kids are not the Threat," led by Rod Ferguson, William Robertson Coe Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Professor of American Studies
"Resistance from Aristotle to Star Wars," led by Feisal Mohamed, Professor of English
Following a two-day orientation session at Yale in May, Fellows return for a two-week Intensive Session in July. Between July 6 and 17, they will attend daily seminar meetings on campus and begin researching and writing their curriculum units with support from their seminar leader. Superintendents and other local school officials will join the National Fellows when the program concludes at our Annual Conference at Yale on November 6-7.
The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools promotes the creation of Teachers Institutes for high-need school districts across the country. These Institutes follow the approach developed originally in New Haven and implemented now in other cities.
Teachers Institutes are partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen teaching and learning in a community's high-need public schools. Backed by rigorous evaluations over more than three decades, Teachers Institutes strengthen teaching, student engagement, and teacher retention. They increase teachers' morale and enthusiasm and provide leadership opportunities for teachers that allow them to remain in the classroom.
