Dr. Sister IAsia Thomas

Dr. Sister IAsia Thomas is a veteran educator having developed creative, cultural, healing, and solidarity enrichment spaces in schools and community learning hubs for over twenty years. She received the legacy of leading Children's Windows to Africa in 2019. She guides a team of artists, teaching artists, educators, and practitioners into public housing communities, and schools to make cultural knowledge and legacies accessible to those populations. She is interested in globally Diasporic scholarship, social emotional arts learning, Black psychology, African-centered education, and community-based education models. Dr. Thomas was born in South Africa and came to the United States in the early eighties as a child. She is a former equity officer in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, identifies as an artist, carries the title of "Ndezi", meaning care giver of children, who are referred to as "Muntu"; sacred beings. She as appointed executive director of CWTA after serving as the organizations director of creative and cultural programs for five years.