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Members of the BPARN presented on the creation of the Boston PAR Network at the Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) conference in Sobral, Brazil!
This image shows 4 presenters at ARNA lined up for the photo with the presentation slides behind them. The people in the photo are, from left to right: Tara Gully-Hightower, Allentza Michel, Patricia Krueger-Henney, and Diallo Ferguson.
Boston PAR Network members, Diallo Ferguson, Dr. Tara Gully-Hightower, Dr. Patricia Krueger-Henney, and Dr. Allentza Michel, traveled to Sobral, Brazil, this June to share the work done by the BPARN members to create our beloved grassroots collective. The presentation highlighted how the BPARN is a community of activists, students, educators, and researchers responding to the deepening crises of structural violence and social marginalization within Boston-area neighborhoods and schools. Presenters shared the origins of the network, from the beginning of the first BPARN meeting in 2022 hosted by the Conservation Law Foundation and Massasoit Community College in Brockton, to the monthly meetings supported by an “action” grant from The Healthy Neighborhoods’ Study, to our most recent evolution working with One Square World as our fiscal sponsor.
In this photo, the BPARN team stands with organizers, audience members, and other presenters at ARNA 2026.
The BPARN team engaged with new PAR colleagues from across the Americas in discussions about the place of decolonial ethics, critical theoretical stances, and intentional community positionality in the practice of PAR.
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Tara Gully-Hightower is an educator committed to the academic success of urban youth as evidenced by over twenty years of teaching in Boston area colleges, high schools, and middle schools.
She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Urban Education Policy, and Leadership Studies at UMass Boston. Her dissertation work includes running a Participatory Action Research project with community college students to increase college completion rates, especially for students first in their families to attend college, low-income students, and students of color.
Before teaching English, Writing, and Humanities in Boston, Cambridge, and Chelsea, she taught Literature and Humanities for The Transitional Year Program at Brandeis University. Presently, she teaches English at Massasoit Community College in Brockton.
Tara earned an M.A. in English and American Language and Literature from The Harvard University Extension School and an Ed. M. in Education and Curriculum Development from The Harvard Graduate School of Education. She earned her B.A. in English and American Language and Literature from Brandeis University. She is a graduate of the Fenway High School in Boston.
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