Our work: Equity in Learning

Distinguished Practitioners in Residence

Reflecting the integral role of community in equity work at Stanford and in the world, the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence program brings local Bay Area education leaders to campus for a year, fostering intergenerational dialogue centered around an annual theme.

Bob Hoover, an older Black man wearing a Korea Veteran cap, stands with four other adults in a classroom.
Bob Hoover, the inaugural DPIR, meets with Stanford teacher candidates. Photo: Arrow Digital

Overview

Community, and the integral role it plays in equity work at Stanford and beyond, is at the foundation of the Accelerator’s Equity in Learning Initiative.

To bring the community and Stanford closer together, the initiative established the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence (DPIR) program in 2024. The purpose of this program is to cultivate intergenerational dialogue between community educators and Stanford students, staff, faculty, and alumni. DPIRs include community scholars who have been engaged in equity work in education on the peninsula and/or throughout the greater Bay Area.

The founding DPIR was Robert Hoover, Inaugural President of the Nairobi College in East Palo Alto (1969), whose role centered on the theme of grounding equity work in historical context. The 2025-2026 DPIR theme is Tequity (Tech x Equity in Education).

Faculty lead

Headshot of Maisha T. Winn

Maisha T. Winn

Faculty Director, Equity in Learning Initiative

Current practitioners in residence

  • Ben Hamamoto

    Ben Hamamoto is a researcher, writer, and educator whose work bridges cultural analysis, community history, and futures thinking. As a Research Director at the Institute for the Future (IFTF), Ben both practices and teaches strategic foresight. His work at IFTF includes community-based foresight research on the impact of climate change on low-income Californians and forecasts of emerging approaches to knowledge mobilization for education networks. Ben began his career in journalism and filmmaking and served as the editor of Nikkei Heritage, the official magazine of the National Japanese American Historical Society. He continues to work in community media, writing articles and producing video for Nichi Bei Weekly, covering Asian American history, arts, activism and pop culture.

  • Lyn Jeffrey

    Lyn Jeffery leads the Foresight Essentials program at the Institute for the Future (IFTF), supporting people, organizations, and communities to develop their own foresight capacities. A cultural anthropologist and an IFTF Distinguished Fellow, Lyn explores how people make sense of the rapidly changing world around them, whether a community college student mapping a meaningful employment path, a leader in a multinational organization developing their own futures thinking skills, or an amateur musician experimenting with AI. Before joining IFTF, Lyn worked in China as a tour guide, nonprofit researcher, Fulbright scholar, and television producer. Lyn has enduring interests in learning experience design, mobility, social media, collaborative technologies. She holds a BA in Chinese Studies and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.