About the
Department
The
Department of Equity and Race Relations includes: Caprice Hollins, Psy.D., Raymond
Williams, and Ilsa Govan
We
network with countless other individuals and organizations to move
this important work forward.
Caprice
Hollins
Caprice D. Hollins was
born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She grew up in the Rainier
Valley, attending John Muir, Hawthorne, and Mercer and graduated
from Franklin High school. She received her bachelor’s degree
in psychology from Seattle University and a doctorate degree in
Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Multicultural and Community
Psychology in 1998 from Alliant International University in Los
Angeles, California.
Dr.
Hollins returned to Seattle in 1998 where she completed her post
doc at Atlantic Street Center – a local mental health agency
serving primarily youth and families of color. For the past 8 years
she has facilitated workshops and taught graduate courses
increasing awareness and knowledge in working with diverse ethnic
populations at several local universities including Seattle Pacific
University, Antioch, University of Washington and Mars Hill
Graduate School. Her expertise and focus has been on working with
children and families from diverse ethnic and socio-economic
backgrounds.
Dr.
Hollins spent five years working and building relationships with
students, staff and families at the African American Academy. Some
of her many responsibilities included providing mental health
services to students and families and classroom management support
to teachers in addition to her role on the Student Intervention and
Disciplinary Teams.
In
October of 2004 she joined Seattle Public Schools as the Director
of Equity and Race Relations where she supports the educational
efforts of the District to dismantle institutional racism. Her role
includes providing guidance, resources and professional development
to promote cultural competence of staff; review of policy and
procedures to ensure equity; promote best practices around family
and community engagement and address the need for culturally
relevant curriculum.
Dr.
Hollins works hard to try and balance her passion and commitment
for equity and raising a young family with her husband . Together
they have two young children and three older step
children.
Ray
Williams
Raymond Williams comes
to Equity, Race and Learning Support after a long career as a
science educator. Born and raised in Seattle, he taught secondary
science in Seattle, Atlanta and internationally. He gained his
professional development experience as an Instructional Coach with
SPS. He has been involved with educational equity issues for 20
years, mentoring student groups, developing culturally relevant
curriculum, providing professional development and reflecting on
his own growth toward being a more racially aware
citizen.
Ilsa
Govan
Ilsa
chose to become a teacher because of her passion for social justice
and desire to make schools more equitable for all children. She
earned her Bachelor's Degree in Education from Western Washington
University and began her work in public schools as a special
education teacher in Tumwater, WA. She then moved back to Seattle
and began teaching 5th grade at TOPS K-8.
Ilsa
decided to continue her studies at Pacific Oaks College Northwest.
In order to complete her thesis, she spent a year studying
effective European American teachers of African American students
in three Seattle elementary schools. During this time, she also
worked as a 2nd grade reading teacher at TOPS and an educational
consultant for the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. She
completed her Master's Degree in Human Development with an emphasis
on Bicultural Development and went back to teaching full time in a
4/5th grade class at Daniel Bagley Elementary school.
In
addition to her work in the classroom, Ilsa has been involved in
various forms of anti-racist community organizing for the past
fifteen years.
