Alumni & Giving

Julia Kelly Bialeski ’05: Bialeski has dedicated her 20-year career to leadership within public education. She has served as an elementary school teacher, instructional specialist, assistant principal, principal. In November 2024, Bialeski’s book “Leading with Grace: Cultivating Hope, Authenticity, and a Focus on People Throughout the Leadership Lifespan” was published by SchoolRubric, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting and sharing information with educators around the world. Bialeski is currently the coordinator of recruitment and hiring for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), where she led an effort to redesign an outdated application and applicant tracking system, leading to more efficient hiring practices and helping to fill vacancies. 

Michael J. Martirano '81, M.Ed. '85, M.Ed '92: Started his career as a middle school teacher in Prince George’s County where he was selected as the 1993 Outstanding Science Teacher for the State of Maryland. He then went on to serve as a school administrator for eight years before becoming a district administrator in Montgomery County and then Howard County. Since 2005 this alumni has been honored to serve as the superintendent of St. Mary’s County Public Schools, the State Superintendent of West Virginia Public Schools and was the superintendent of Howard County Public Schools. Throughout his career he has focused on positive change for students or as one of his nominators’ put it his work has been focused on “putting equity into action and building restorative cultures as the core principles of his strategy for increasing engagement and achievement, narrowing gaps among student groups and ensuring nurturing, inclusive and safe learning environments”.  Michael is now a Senior Fellow for the Center for Digital Education. 

Alana Murray '98, Ph.D.'12:  is currently the Director at MCPS and was the former principal at Shady Grove Middle School in Montgomery County and the co-coordinator of the Equity and Excellence certificate program at McDaniel College. Dr. Murray is also an author, and in 2019 she published the book, "The Development of the Alternative Black Curriculum, 1890-1940: Countering the Master Narrative.". She has contributed to the the College of Education community through her fieldwork and volunteerism. Dr. Murray has served as a mentor teacher within the department of Social Studies and upon leaving the classroom has continued to support interns through their placements and by volunteering in the College of Education as a school based expert.  

Elizabeth Stuart Whitehead '98, Ed.D.'24: received her undergraduate degree form the college in 1998 and  her doctorate at the college in 2024. She served as an elementary art teacher and content specialist for art, theater and dance for Montgomery County Public Schools before serving in her current position as the Visual Art Instructional Supervisor at Prince George’s County Public Schools. She has co-authored two books on the uses of art to teach reading and writing. Recently, she received the Gilbert A. Clark & Enid Zimmerman Leadership and Advocacy Award from the National Art Education Association.

Justin Van Fleet Ph.D.'11: graduated with a Ph.D. in international education policy from the University of Maryland in 2011. He is the President of the global children's charity Theirworld and CEO of the Global Business Coalition for Education. He previously served as the Director of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity and Chief of Staff to the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown where the landmark “Learning Generation” report put forward a pathway to finance and deliver the ambitions of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – inclusive and equitable quality education for all. He has been a passionate advocate for financing education, playing an instrumental role in the establishment of the Education Cannot Wait Fund for education in emergencies and the new International Finance Facility for Education.

David Edwards Ph.D.'14: graduated with a Ph.D. in International Education Policy from UMD in 2014. He is currently the General Secretary for Education International in Belgium. Before this he served as the Deputy General Secretary for 6 years where he would Develop, oversee, and promote EI policies on education, employment and its research agenda globally and across all five regions. He would also represent the teaching profession globally through active engagement on the Boards of the Global Partnership for Education, the Education for All Steering Committee as well as the steering committee of the International Summits on the Teaching Profession. 

Barbara Friedlander ’85, M.A. ’90: Since 2018, Friedlander has served as an enthusiastic board member on the College of Education Alumni Network Board. During her tenure as president, Friedlander had led the Alumni Network to the highest levels of alumni engagement in its history and contributed to the board receiving two awards from the UMD Alumni Association: the 2024 Network of the Year and the 2023 Do Good Service Award. Professionally, Friedlander served over 35 years in various roles with Montgomery County Public Schools and Frederick County Public Schools, including 20 years as a special educator. Currently, she is a national professional development specialist for FullBloom and an educational consultant providing professional development that promotes equity and inclusion practices.

Linda Mason M.Ed. ’94, Ph.D. ’02: Mason is a well-published researcher within the field of special education, whose work examines underserved schools and students with disabilities in both urban and rural settings. Mason pushed the boundaries of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), an evidence-based writing practice that follows six structured stages. She was among the first to conduct SRSD research in middle and high schools, and her SRSD research and strategies are implemented in classrooms worldwide. Mason began her career as a special education teacher in the Howard County Public School System and has recently retired from her position as professor of special education and the endowed director of the Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities at George Mason University. There, she was responsible for directing, facilitating and disseminating research findings in the area of special education.

Darryl Williams Ed.D. ’11: Williams began his career as a high school math teacher and principal in Montgomery County Public Schools, cultivating inclusive, high-performing learning environments. He later became associate superintendent, overseeing performance and improvement efforts at 70 schools. In Houston, he led transformation efforts in some of the city’s most challenged schools. As superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, he advanced equity, academic achievement, and postsecondary readiness for over 111,000 students and 21,000 staff during the pandemic. Now a senior advisor at Morgan State University’s Center for Educational Opportunity, he mentors leaders and shapes equity-focused policies. A steadfast advocate for underserved communities, Williams embodies the University of Maryland’s values: purposeful leadership, innovation rooted in equity, and a lifelong commitment to student success.

Daman Harris Ph.D. ’14: Harris has played a key role in bringing UMD’s Creative Initiatives for Teacher Education (CITE) program to Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). CITE enables conditionally licensed educators and paraeducators to earn a master’s degree while working full-time. A strong advocate for these learners, he has helped expand access to career-advancing opportunities. The CITE partnership model now serves as a prototype for future district collaborations. Harris began as a second grade teacher in Baltimore County and has served as a principal and assistant principal in Montgomery County. He is currently senior manager for educator advancement and higher education partnerships at AACPS. He is also the co-founder and co-director of the Building Our Network of Diversity (BOND) Project, supporting male educators of color. Harris is the author of the 2023 book “The Antiracist School Leader: What to Know, Say, & Do.”

Angela Stoltz Ph.D. ’19: Stoltz, an associate clinical professor at the UMD College of Education, is a leader in science and teacher education, with a strong focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is a principal investigator on numerous research projects and the professional development school coordinator for the middle school math and sciences program. Her work centers on historically marginalized populations, challenging prevailing paradigms around educational experiences and outcomes for diverse students and communities. As an affiliate fellow in the Honors College, she launched UMD’s first Piscataway-led course and will soon lead a new class in the Biodiversity & Threats cluster, co-developing K–12 curricula to integrate Indigenous Knowledge to challenge assumptions about science and Eurocentric narratives in biodiversity discussions. Through the Maryland KidWind Initiative, she engages students in hands-on renewable energy projects, advancing experiential STEM learning. 

Norka Padilla '87: Norka Padilla has served as a changemaker through her work with Montgomery County Public Schools in supporting Emergent Multilingual Learners. Norka’s work has demonstrated significant growth in students’ performance by  providing on-going professional development for school teachers and leaders to ensure they were equipped to meet the needs of students. Through her current work with the MCPS International Admissions and Enrollment Office, Norka has lead in the use of an Antiracist and Trauma Responsive Approach, which is grounded in principles that guide her team to providing the best care and service to families navigating the enrollment process.

Lisa Smith ' 05: Lisa is known in Frederick County for her success in building a strong leadership team that creates a focused and comprehensive high school improvement plan addressing reducing chronic absenteeism, increasing student enrollment and completing Advance Placement, Dual Enrollment, and Career and Technical Education programs. As the principal of two high needs and highly diverse high schools, Lisa has built in both schools an expectation to not only providing access and opportunity for the most vulnerable students in her school, but also creating the provisions and structures in place to ensure student success in the programs. Lisa Smith earned a Bachelor’s degree in History and in Secondary Education Social Studies from the University of Maryland in 2005 and currently serves as principal of Tuscarora High School, a diverse and large high school in Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland.