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An expert in education policy and systems change, with a focus on teacher preparation, talent pipelines and sustainable workforce models will visit Northwest Missouri State University as the guest for its fall Ploghoft Diversity Lecture.
Charles King
Charles King – the founder, president and chief executive officer of The Educator Academy in Kansas City, Missouri – will present “Teaching Students from Historically Marginalized Backgrounds: Lessons from Urban Classrooms and Teachers who have Thrived” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom. The lecture is free and open to the public.
“King is an ideal lecturer for our future teachers,” Dr. Ashley Strickland, a Northwest assistant professor of education, said. “With over 20 years of experience working to close opportunity gaps, he will provide our future educators with real-world examples of how their instruction can transform entire school communities.”
King leads organizational strategy, policy engagement and long-term sustainability efforts to strengthen the educator workforce. As the CEO of The Educator Academy, he oversees strategic planning, board governance, fundraising and operations, guiding the multi-million-dollar organization and securing more than $3 million in new philanthropic investment to expand impact annually.
He previously served as program director at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he helped design and launch a teacher residency program and navigated state policy and accreditation processes. Earlier in his career, he spent more than a decade with KIPP Texas Public Schools in Houston as a teacher and school leader, building high-performing teams and driving student achievement.
King is pursuing a Doctor of Education in higher education leadership and policy at the University of Kansas and holds degrees from Houston Baptist University and Morehouse College.
Northwest’s Ploghoft Diversity Lecture series is funded through the lasting generosity of the late Dr. Milton Ploghoft and his wife, Zella. The series features speakers and activities that broaden the educational perspectives of Northwest teacher candidates and inform all students about the issues facing the education of students from diverse environments.
Dr. Ploghoft, a 1949 Northwest alumnus, authored a number of textbooks in the social studies and lived abroad for many years, founding the College of Education in Kano, Nigeria, lecturing at Saigon University and leading its international programs in such places as Chile, Cameroun, Botswana, the Yucatan, Swaziland and in what was then South Vietnam. In 1992, he became the founding editor of the African Education Research Network. He was professor emeritus at Ohio University at the time of his death in 2018.
Zella, who passed away in 2010, completed her elementary and secondary education at Horace Mann Laboratory School at Northwest.
For more information about the Ploghoft Diversity Lecture series, contact Strickland at 660.562.1838 or ashleyp@nwmissouri.edu.
