About the Author

Gowri Parameswaran (pronouns used: she/her/hers) is a professor of education at the State University of Education at New Paltz where she teaches adolescent development and child psychology at the graduate and undergraduate level for over 20 years.  She has been chairing the Department of Educational Studies and Leadership for the past 10 years.  Prior to teaching in New Paltz, she was a professor in Missouri State University and instructor at Rowen State College in New Jersey.

Parameswaran has published widely in the areas of diversity, equity and cognitive development.  Her early years of research included explorations into the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and the ways they could be synthesized when understanding learning and development.  She works on cross-cultural comparisons of developmental issues were published in peer reviewed journals. She co-edited two books on culture, equity and education.  She also co-edited a collection of essays on women and activism which is widely used in college classrooms across the country.  She has written and published articles about teaching issues in diversity, social justice and pedagogy.   Her chapters and essays have included ideas for teaching about gender, racism, colonialism and neo-colonialism.   More recently, she has explored the theoretical and historical issues behind life-span development, adolescence, childhood and developmental psychology as a field of study.  She has problematized the notion of unidirectional growth as outlined in mainstream developmental theory.

Parameswaran is active in initiatives that center communities of color and their struggle for justice. She is active in her professional union and serves as the vice-president of academics. She has explored the history of labor activism as both theory and praxis. She is a member of the Movement for Black Lives in her community and belongs to several organizations that support equity-oriented groups in her community.