UH Mānoa College of Education (COE) faculty members Rosela Balinbin Santos and Waynele Yu, along with doctoral student Phillippe Fernandez-Brennan, have been selected as 2025 Institute for Teachers of Color (ITOC) fellows. ITOC is a unique collaboration among Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Ethnic Studies, supporting approximately 150 ITOC Fellows each year.
Balinbin Santos, a School of Teacher Education (STE) Associate Professor, said, “I am honored and grateful for this opportunity to engage with fellow educators and advocates at this summer’s ITOC conference and during the upcoming academic year as this experience will enhance my teaching, research, and service. Being part of ITOC will provide me with an opportunity to contribute to and learn from other university faculty, teacher leaders, and community advocates who are also passionate about working toward meaningful and transformative change.”
ITOC is a highly selective national leadership development program focused on advancing racial justice in educational contexts. Selection of recipients is based upon a variety of criteria including racial literacy, an asset framing of communities of Color, and a demonstrated potential for racial justice leadership in schools.
“This will be my fifth year as an ITOC fellow and the second time I will be attending the in-person convening,” STE Instructor Yu said. “The ITOC community has been an instrumental part of my growth as a teacher who works toward racial justice. It has also been a healing place for me to deepen my wellness practices. My experiences at ITOC have shaped who I am and informed what might be possible to affect institutional change.”
ITOC convenes a summer conference along with ongoing virtual events throughout the academic year. This year’s summer conference will be held at the California Endowment Center in Los Angeles, California. Designed to support well-being, strengthen racial literacy, and cultivate racial justice leadership, ITOC centers the experiences and needs of teachers of Color who work in K–12 public schools that serve students of Color.
Fernandez-Brennan, a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction, serves as the Curriculum and Assessment Specialist at Hālau Kū Māna Public Charter School where he also teaches math, science, and traditional Hawaiian arts.
“Being selected for this fellowship is a reaffirmation of my purpose as an educator,” Fernandez-Brennan said. “ITOC offers the space, support, and community I need to grow, heal, and lead in ways that reflect the communities I serve. At a time when teachers of Color remain underrepresented or often face systemic barriers in education, ITOC creates a transformative space for educators of Color to deepen our racial literacy, process racialized experiences, and lead change in schools serving BIPOC students.”
As part of the fellowship, Yu will co-facilitate a workshop called Collective Hope, Healing & Liberation, and Phillippe Fernandez-Brennan will facilitate Aloha ʻĀina: A Pedagogical Journey of Love for Land, Culture, and Identity.
