Keynote Speaker

Dr. Bettina Love
Co-Founder, Abolitionist Teaching Network
Award-Winning Author
Athletic Association Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia

Bettina L. Love is the award-winning author of We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and the Athletic Association Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia. Her writing, research, teaching, and educational advocacy work meet at the intersection of education reform, anti-racism, carceral studies, abolition, and Black joy. The aim of her work is twofold: to advance how the field of education understands and critiques the systemic and structural racism of public education within the U.S. and to advocate for abolitionist approaches in the field of education that seek new possibilities for educational justice. In the pursuit of making that a reality, she works with activists, communities, youth, families, and school districts to build communal, civically engaged schools rooted in the aspirations of abolitionist strategies that love and affirm Black and Brown children. In 2020, Love co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN). ATN’s mission is to develop and support teachers and parents to fight injustice within their schools and communities. In 2020, Love was named a member of the Old 4th Ward Economic Security Task Force with the Atlanta City Council. The goal of the task force is to advance dialogue and form tangible solutions for guaranteed income.

In 2014, she was invited to the White House Research Conference on Girls to discuss her work focused on the lives of Black girls. For her work in the field of Hip Hop education, in 2016, Love was named the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. She has also provided commentary for various news outlets including NPR, Ed Week, The Guardian, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In addition to We Want to Do More Than Survive, Love also is the author of Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South. Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including Educational Researcher, Urban Education, The Urban Review, and the Journal of LGBT Youth.