Biography

Meghan L. Green is a mother of two sons and a third-generation educator originally from southwest Louisiana. Her lived experiences as the granddaughter of one woman who left the sixth grade to care for her family and another woman who earned her master’s degree while caring for two young sons influence how she moves in the world. Meghan is currently an Assistant Professor of Raciolinguistic Justice in Early Childhood Teacher Education at Erikson Institute in Chicago, IL. As a faculty member in the Triple Endorsement program, Meghan prepares early childhood educators to engage with young children at the intersections of race/ethnicity, language, and dis/ability.  

Meghan has strived to use the knowledge she gained from serving in various leadership capacities across national, regional, and local early childhood spaces to advocate for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion for children and families in her community. Over the past 17 years, she has served in the field of early childhood education as a pre-kindergarten to 4th-grade teacher, a researcher, an adjunct professor, a university field-based liaison, an anti-bias and anti-racist training facilitator, and a former lead co-facilitator of NAEYC’s Diversity and Equity Education for Adults (DEEA) interest forum.  

Meghan Green: Candidate Statement 1
Meghan Green: Candidate Statement 2

Briefly describe your relevant experience in governance and your understanding of fiduciary duties and fiscal responsibilities. How have you applied these principles in previous positions or organizations, and how do you plan to contribute to the effectiveness and financial stewardship of our Board? 

Over the last 20 years, I have had the pleasure of serving my early care and education community in several governance roles. When I was a 2nd grade teacher in Fort Worth, I served as grade level chair at my school from 2019-2022. In this role, I managed our grade level’s financial commitments and supported campus leadership with larger school projects. I learned how to work with a small team of dedicated individuals from various backgrounds as well as with leaders across departments. In 2022, I transitioned to Erikson Institute as the lead researcher on an exploratory program evaluation study funded by the Illinois Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development for $119, 374. While managing a grant-funded project of this size, I gained valuable skills such as (1) learning how to submit required quarterly project reports; (2) managing a Preschool Development Grant Birth-5 budget; and (3) disseminating program evaluation findings to state-level early childhood leaders. As an early career scholar, I have also had to seek internal and external funding to support my developing research agenda. To date, I have applied for approximately $325,000 in internal and external funds for research and program evaluation. In my role as principal investigator or co-principal investigator, I have experience creating budgets to support project staff, participant stipends, and additional project expenses. These roles required me to conduct literature reviews on relevant topics and craft budget narratives that supported the requests for funding. Over the last year, I have also been tasked with serving as one of three faculty representatives on Erikson’s 5-year strategic planning committee. In this role, I regularly attended monthly meetings with the full strategic planning committee as well as smaller working group meetings to develop the organization’s policy and leadership priorities. I was also able to provide direct feedback on the feasibility of the proposed strategic plan budget and fundraising campaign. As the current elected co-chair of my organization’s Faculty Council, I am responsible for representing faculty at meetings with the executive leadership and the Board of Trustees. These experiences have taught me the value of building community with individuals across intersectional interests. I have had the chance to engage with senior members of the early care and education community across local, regional, state, national, and international contexts. I firmly believe that transparency, authentic reciprocal dialogue, and constructive feedback result in the most effective form of shared governance.