Dr. Jonathan A. Carroll is the oldest of three children born to educators John and Emily Carroll. The Philadelphia native grew up to follow in the legacy of his parents and become a teacher. In addition to being a leader in the classroom, Jonathan has also concurrently been a leader on the pool deck continuing a lifelong love affair with swimming and sports. Dr. Carroll is also an emerging scholar who seeks to document the experience of students and teachers of color within the current educational landscape. He is currently a Middle School Dean at Harvard-Westlake School.
In 1995 Dr. Carroll graduated from the prestigious Central HS, and went on to earn a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. After recognizing that he was not in fact destined to be a pediatrician, Dr. Carroll decided to pursue a profession that held his interest: education, and began a Master’s program at Drexel University. At this time he also began working at Germantown Academy (GA) as an elementary teaching assistant and swim coach under the guidance of legendary coach, Richard Shoulberg. It was in his first year at GA that Dr. Carroll got to be on the deck as GA swimmer, Maddy Crippen, made the 2000 Olympic team. It was a defining moment in his maturation as both educator and coach.
Dr. Carroll and his wife Nkechi became California residents in 2004 where he continued to coach and teach. In 2006 he was named Head Coach of Team Santa Monica where he helped build the team from 85 athletes to over 200 and developed swimmers who competed in National competitions including the 2008 Olympic Trials. All of this was done while he pursued his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Carroll successfully defended his dissertation titled Guess Who’s Coming to Class: Examining the Pedagogy of a Black Male Teacher Educator in June of 2011.
Though his schedule has always been demanding, Dr. Carroll has found time to pursue and complete projects of import to the communities he has been called to serve. He self-published the children’s book Meet Julius Carmichael: First Day Blues in 2003, and in 2008 started Class in Session, a mentoring program geared towards increasing the chances of college matriculation for Black male students. In an effort to bring a different kind of conversation to the media airwaves, Dr. Carroll and Nkechi produced the online talk show A Breath of Fresh Air in 2010. Connecting with and sharing the stories of those who have been traditionally voiceless will continue to be a priority of Dr. Carroll, and he looks forward to developing multiple avenues for sharing those narratives.