Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She studies Black historical excellence within educational communities with the goal of reframing curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy.

The responsive Education Model has been adopted across U.S. school districts. In 2022 she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers, recognized the 200 university-College of Education Researcher of the Year, the 2020 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Division K Early Career Award, and the 2021 NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator in the English Language Arts. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms.