Michael was born and raised in South Bend and was involved with education his entire professional career. He served as an English teacher, special education teacher, and administrator in public schools in Michigan, Texas, and Indiana. After retiring from the MCCSC as the director of special education, Michael began working half time as a research associate at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University. He became a full-time retiree in 2014. He volunteers at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and is on the Board of Directors of Stone Belt. He has lived in Bloomington since 1978, and has three adult children and six grandchildren.

Mitzi is Professor Emerita of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research interests include school university partnerships, critical literacy, and using children’s literature to teach for social justice.  She worked in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2014.  Her projects included a partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Indiana University, and Kabul Education University (KEU) that created an English master’s degree program at KEU with the aim of rebuilding teacher education in Afghanistan. Before coming to Indiana University, she spent five years developing and implementing a language arts children’s television curriculum and accompanying professional development program for the GALAXY Classroom, a nonprofit foundation with students and teachers in 400 schools across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Prior to this, she held positions in the Montebello Unified School District—a large, urban district in Southern California—as a bilingual teacher, reading and language specialist, middle school assistant principal, and district language arts consultant. She is a two-time recipient of the IU School of Education Trustee’s Teaching Award, the Burton Gorman Teaching Award, and is co-author of three editions of Teaching Children’s Literature: It’s Critical (Routledge, 2013, 2018, 2023), two editions of Creating Critical Classrooms: Reading and Writing with an Edge (Routledge, 2008, 2015), and Teaching K-8 Reading: Disrupting 10 Literacy Myths (Routledge, 2021).  

Tori is an educator with 34 years of experience in elementary education in Bloomington - 25 years as a teacher and 9 years as an elementary principal. During those years she was active in implementing multi-age teaching and many other instructional elements in place at The Project School. After retirement, Victoria was the Educational Director at Wonderlab, a visiting lecturer at the Department of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at Indiana University, and is now volunteering, gardening, and exploring art, music, writing, and whatever strikes her fancy. She feels that serving on TPS Board of Directors is an honor and a privilege. Tori has lived in Bloomington for 52 years and has one son, two grandsons (one deceased), and two great-grandchildren.

Dan is a Senior Lecturer at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs where he serves as faculty lead for the Human Resource Management major. He is an affiliated lecturer with the Department of Management Studies at the University of West Indies and he has been a practitioner and an instructor in the HR field for over 20 years, including thirteen years as the Director of Human Resources for the City of Bloomington. He holds senior-level certifications with both the Society for Human Resource Management and the HR Certification Institute. Dan has served as Diversity Director on the board of the Society for Human Resource Management’s state affiliate HR Indiana, on the board of the South-Central Indiana Human Resource Association, on the board of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns Medical Trust, and as Chair of the Board of the Disability:IN Indiana advocating for the employment of people with disabilities. He spent eight combined years on the Public Law 221 Jackson Creek Middle School and Templeton Elementary School Improvement Committees. He served on the Templeton Principal Selection Advisory Committee, the Jackson Creek Assistant Principal Selection Committee, the IU Continuing Education Advisory Committee, the Ivy Tech Office Administration Advisory Committee, and as a volunteer with the Community Partners in Reading program. Dan and his wife, Julie, have one granddaughter, four dogs, and five adult daughters who they enjoy traveling to visit. 

Rachael is a native Hoosier and alumna of Indiana University. Currently the Managing Director of Alumni Relations at Indiana University, Rachael has worked in and for the Bloomington community her entire adult life. In addition to acting as a major gifts officer at a local healthcare nonprofit and holding a variety of professional positions at IU, Rachael has served on the boards of a variety of local nonprofit organizations and is a volunteer for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, an international nonprofit that champions education at all ages. In recognition of this investment in our community, in 2019 she was awarded the Women Excel Bloomington Award by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, she was presented the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal in recognition of her service to broaden the global reach of IU. TPS holds a special place in Rachael's heart, as she had children enrolled throughout its first 10 years. Even though they have now gone on to high school, college, and beyond, the success of The Project School and its commitment to eliminating the predictive value of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and special abilities on student success remains incredibly important to her.

Neil Smith is currently an Organizational Consultant for the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Prior to his HR work at IU, Neil spent 10 years with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington focusing on programming, operations, and human resources. During this time, he developed deep connections as a partner and friend with TPS and the TPS community. Neil has a secondary education degree from IU's School of Education as well as a Masters in Business Administration from the Kelley School of Business. Neil is a husband, father of two smart, lovely, funny, strong, daughters, music lover, cyclist, and proud TPS board member. He loves being on a bike in the sunshine with his family. 

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Adam Wason is currently the Director of Public Works for the City of Bloomington. Wason began his tenure at the City as an intern during his undergraduate and graduate studies at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In the years following he served in several full-time roles including Public Affairs Specialist with the City of Bloomington Utilities, Assistant Director of Economic and Sustainable Development, Communications Director, and Deputy Mayor. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs and Master's Certificates in both Public and Non-Profit Administration from SPEA. Adam is a husband, father, public servant, coach, and board member for several Bloomington organizations. The time that Adam enjoys most involves recreational activities with his family, a round of golf when it fits into his schedule, and visiting microbreweries when traveling.

Charlotte has been involved in local politics and civic leadership for more than 4 decades. She was elected to Bloomington City Council in 1971, in an election which changed the course of Bloomington politics and policies; elected first woman president of the City council in 1972 and 1973; elected first woman Monroe County Commissioner in 1980, president of board of Commissioners in 1982-1988; co-founded Goods Inc. 1973; Executive Director United Way 1988-1990; Community Organizer for Planned Parenthood of South Central Indiana 1990-1995; Economic Development Coordinator, Middle Way House, 1995-2010; served on and acted as officer in numerous boards and commissions; Trustee, Indiana State University 1988-2005; PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, and taught German and linguistics in Germany, University of Michigan and Indiana University. Charlotte is one of the founding board members of TPS, and is the author of the recently published book, Minister's Daughter: One Life, Many Lives.