Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance Hires Full-Time Executive Director

​The Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance (TECA) board of directors has hired Diarese George, Ed.D as the first full-time executive director. Founded by George in 2016, TECA was created to provide a platform to amplify the voice and presence of educators of color.

​“It has always been a goal and a dream of mine to build TECA to a point where I could lead the organization full-time; all of our accomplishments and growth has been driven by a working board of directors,” George said.

​Last fall, TECA was announced as one of NewSchools Venture Funds Teacher Diversity grantees, providing funding to advance our work in retaining teachers of color in Tennessee while providing leadership opportunities.

​Previously, George has served as director of recruitment for the Nashville Teacher Residency and taught for five years as a high school Career Technical Education teacher, with a focus on business.

Additionally, he has completed education leadership fellowships for Education Pioneers, the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), Hope Street Group, and the Mosaic Fellowship, which connects and empowers education leaders of color across the state of Tennessee. Dr. George holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Corporation Communications from Austin Peay State University. He also received an MBA and Doctorate in Education Leadership from Trevecca Nazarene University. He is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated.

​ABOUT TENNESSEE EDCUATORS OF COLOR ALLIANCE

​The mission of Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance is to amplify the voice, presence, and support for educators of color while remaining student-centered and solutions-oriented. The central belief of TECA is that all students benefit from teachers and administrators of color, especially since many of these educators were once students of color themselves. Because of these shared experiences, educators of color are able to speak to the systemic inequities that students of color face. Many of Tennessee’s policymakers do not look like or represent the majority of students in our schools and TECA believes in elevating teacher leaders of color to be policy advocates for their students.