Rate My Professor Kari Kokka

Kari Kokka, Ed.D., serves as Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research specializations include social justice mathematics, mathematics teacher activism, and critical consciousness development among mathematics teachers. Current research projects are funded by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. Before joining UNLV, she held the position of Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Pittsburgh from 2017 to 2022. During her tenure there, she received the Dean’s Distinguished Research Award in 2022, the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2021, and the Iris Marion Award for Social Justice in 2019. She was elected president-elect of TODOS: Mathematics for ALL, with terms as president-elect from 2025-2026, president from 2026-2028, and past president from 2028-2029. Dr. Kokka is a co-founder of the Creating Balance in an Unjust World Conference on STEMM Education and Social Justice, established in 2007, and served as former co-chair of the Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group from 2017 to 2019. She has been involved with the Radical STEMM Educators of the Bay Area, the People’s Education Movement, and the New York Collective of Radical Educators. Additionally, she co-hosts the Critical Math Drop Podcast with Michelle Cody.

Dr. Kokka began her professional career in education as a mathematics teacher and diving coach at Berkeley High School in 1999. From 2001 to 2011, she worked as a mathematics teacher activist and mathematics instructional coach at Vanguard High School, a Title I public school in New York City. Her academic background includes an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2017, principal certification from the NYC Leadership Academy in 2011, an M.A. in Education from Stanford University in 2001, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1999. Key publications include “Toward a Theory of Affective Pedagogical Goals for Social Justice Mathematics” in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (2022), “‘How I show up for Brown and Black students’: Asian American male mathematics teachers seeking solidarity” (2020), “‘Educational Facials’: A Healing Tool for the Beautiful Struggle” (2024), and “Political Conocimiento in Teaching Mathematics: Mathematics Teacher Candidates Enacting Their Ethical Identities” (2024). She has delivered keynote presentations, such as the opening keynote “Who is in the frame?” for the California Math Council South and the Distinguished Lecture for the Cal Poly Pomona Math and Stats Colloquium in 2025.