Mary Jo Hetzel

In a Silent Way: A Young Teacher Activist in Urban America emerged out of Mary Jo Hetzel’s experience teaching in one of the first alternative high schools in the late 1960’s and from her life long involvement in grassroots social movements for racial, economic and sexual justice. She was the founding director of the Boston Campus of Springfield College, School of Human Services and faculty member of the college for 24 years. She is currently active in the struggle for justice and quality in urban public education, and in co-hosting Circle processes, rooted in indigenous principles, in an effort to break down hierarchies of power and oppression in order to co-create the conditions for community self-empowerment and institutional transformation. She enjoys jazz, creative writing, film, drama, athletics, nature, spirit, and friendship. Mary Jo lives in Jamaica Plain, a community of Boston, Massachusetts.