Dr. Fred A. Bonner, II is Professor and Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership and Counseling and Founding Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Minority Achievement, Creativity and High-Ability (MACH-III) Center at Prairie View A&M University. He is formerly the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University and an esteemed expert in the field of diversity in education. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was Professor of Higher Education Administration and Dean of Faculties at Texas A&M University-College Station. He earned a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of North Texas, an M.S. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Baylor University, and an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration & College Teaching from the University of Arkansas. Bonner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundation’s Dissertation of the Year Award from the University of Arkansas College of Education. His work has been featured nationally and internationally. He is the author of the recently released book, Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P-20 Pipeline.
Dr. Rishi Raj is the Associate Director of the Minority Achievement, Creativity & High-Ability (MACH-III) Center at Prairie View A&M University. He is the Managing Editor for the Journal of Minority Achievement, Creativity & Leadership, published by the Pennsylvania State University Press, and also sits on the Editorial Review Board for Impacting Education-Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, published by The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. Born and raised in India, Dr. Raj pursued his higher education in Texas, earning degrees in accounting (BBA) and executive business administration (MBA) from Texas Woman’s University (2014, 2016), and educational leadership (EdD) from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (2021), where his research focused on international student identity development and non-traditional qualitative research. He was awarded an undergraduate study abroad fellowship to the United States Virgin Islands in 2012 and served as a postdoctoral research fellow at Prairie View A&M University from 2021 to 2023. Dr. Raj has previously worked at Fidelity Investments and served as business development manager for informational technology and e-commerce business startups, and currently also works as a consultant with federal/private agencies and domestic/international educational institutions.