Biography
Dr. Jancarlos “J.C.” Wagner-Romero serves as adjunct professor in the Department of K-12 Education Programs at Tulane University. He is a former school and district leader dedicated to cultivating the skills and capacity of educators, both locally and internationally. He has been recognized as a highly effective international school turnaround principal and continues to engage in critical educational issues as an education leader, academic, and as founder and principal consultant of a national DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and leadership consulting firm—Romero Strategies, LLC.
Dr. Wagner-Romero received his GED and A.A. degree in English Literature from Delgado Community College, B.A. in sociology from Northwestern State University, and M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Northeastern University. He also earned a doctorate in educational practice with a concentration is sustainability, social justice, and participatory culture from the University of Missouri-St. Louis where he co-authored a dissertation entitled “Kids These Days: Increasing Youth Engagement in Community Heritage and Social Justice Through the Implementation of a Youth Participatory Empowerment Model.” Dr. Wagner-Romero’s research focuses heavily on immigrant youth and family experiences in public schools, culturally sustaining pedagogy, cultivating global perspectives in PK-12 educational settings, and broad issues of race, racism, and privilege.
Dr. Wagner-Romero, a former elected official who served as Vice President of the New Orleans Public School Board, remains heavily engaged in the New Orleans community. Despite living and working in Wisconsin where he serves as an assistant professor of global and multicultural education at UW-La Crosse, Dr. Wagner-Romero continues to serve on the executive board of the Center for Racial Justice at Dillard University in New Orleans. In addition, he serves as president of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), as well as the organization’s Region 4 director.