Nicholas Ryan McBride (he/him) is Associate Professor & Coordinator of Music Education at The College of New Jersey. His publications and research focus on Queer and Gender Studies in Music Education, Queer Pedagogies, Masculinity Studies, and Empathic & Inclusive Learning Processes. In addition to serving as one of fifty Welcoming Schools-Human Rights Campaign National Facilitators nationwide, he is the founder and principal conductor of the "THIS IS ME" National Choral Festival for LGBTQ+ Youth and Allies. Dr. McBride is the NAfME Gender and Sexuality Special Research Interest Group Chair, and serves on the editorial boards of The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, The Journal of General Music Education, and Visions of Research in Music Education.

Colleen A. Q. Sears (she/her) is Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at The College of New Jersey. Her research focuses on social justice issues in music and the role of grief in teaching and

learning. Dr. Sears founded The Artivism Project, an initiative that engages students, composers, conductors, and educators with social justice topics through music performance and collaborative interdisciplinary experiences. She holds a Bachelor of Music from The College of New Jersey, a Master of Arts from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctor of Education in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.