Dr. Mary Stone Hanley, assistant professor in Initiatives for Transformative Education (CEHD), has been an educator in public and higher education for more than 35 years. She received a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis in Multicultural Education, from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA in 1998. In prior faculty positions she taught social studies, arts education, and multicultural education courses. Her research interests include the Arts and Equity in Education. Her interest in how the arts facilitate learning as a vehicle of culture and equity, particularly with African American youth, has grown during her work as a public school teacher, an artist and arts educator, an urban community educator working with children at risk for failure in public schools, and as a researcher and university faculty member. Her articles, The Name Game: Naming in Culture, Critical Theory, and the Arts in Journal of Thought 39(4), and Learning to Fly: Critical Multicultural Education through Drama in Arts and Learning Research Journal, 18 (1) are examples of her writing on the use of drama with young African Americans. Transformation through Hip Hop, a chapter in Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia is an example of Dr. Hanley's research in the Hip Hop culture and art forms as they affect young Black males and White teachers. Dr. Hanley has a Masters degree in Educational Communications and Technology with an emphasis in television and film. She is a playwright, screenwriter, and poet. She has written several plays and two films produced for young audiences.