Tina M. Owen-Moore has been an educator for twenty years. She started in 1998 as a high school English teacher in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2005, with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Tina worked with a group of teachers and students to open the Alliance School, the first school in the nation started with the explicit mission of reducing bullying. She led the in-district charter school from 2005–2016, and has consistently worked to share Alliance’s practices so that all schools can be safe and inclusive places for all students.
Tina has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including being named 2010 Educator of the Year by GSAFE Wisconsin, being recognized by the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association with the Innovator of the Year Award for her cocreation of the Teacher-Led Network, and receiving an LGBT Progress Award from the Shepherd Express magazine of Milwaukee. She was also honored with the Marquette University School of Education’s Young Alumna Award in 2008. The school was awarded the 2011 Wisconsin Charter School of the Year, Platinum Award, and in 2015 won recognition as one of the “41 Most Innovative Schools in America” by Noodle.com.
Tina earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Marquette University and her Master of Arts degree from Alverno College. She is currently enrolled in the Ed.L.D. program at Harvard University, from which she anticipates receiving her doctorate degree in 2019. She is the mother of two adult children, Felicia and Jeremy, and has been a foster and surrogate mother to many others. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois, with her wife, Velvet, and their two adorable cats, Tiger and Juani.
