User:Bluenotetote/Ricco Wright

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Ricco Wright
Ricco Wright at the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in Cambridge, MA
Born
Ricco Darnell Pittman

(1981-08-02) August 2, 1981 (age 42)[1]
Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA[1]
Alma materLangston University (B.S.), Columbia University (M.A./M.S.)
OccupationStudent
Political partyDemocrat
ChildrenRaquel Renea Jackson
Parent(s)Maythurple Renea Pittman, Edward Darrell Wright
AwardsErnest L. Holloway Student Leader of the Year (2003), Langston University
Signature

Ricco Darnell Wright (born August 2, 1981) is an American scholar and educator. A Bill Gates scholar from 2000 to 2010,[3] Wright received his Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Langston University in 2004,[4] and his Master of Arts in 2007 and Master of Science in 2009 both in mathematics education from Columbia University.[2] After pursuing a Doctor of Education in mathematics education at Teachers College, Columbia University, he received his Ed.D in Mathematics Education on May 22, 2014.[5]

School days[edit]

Elementary school[edit]

Ricco Darnell Wright was born August 2, 1981, at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Edward Darrell Wright and Maythurple Renea Pittman, but was raised by his mother and stepfather, Keith Darrell Gay, since the age of five.


Considered poor by American standards, Wright and his family often received subsidized housing, courtesy of the federally funded Section 8 program, as well as welfare.[2] His mother, though appreciative, was always so disgusted with the substandard housing that they moved almost every year, resulting in Wright attending several elementary schools in the Tulsa Public School district as well as one elementary school in the Broken Arrow Public School district.

Notwithstanding the instability, Wright earned a reputation at each school for being an excellent student, especially in mathematics and in 1992, he graduated from Disney Elementary School in Tulsa.

Secondary school[edit]

During 6th grade and half of 7th grade, Wright attended Foster Middle School in Tulsa, where he first began playing school basketball, before transferring to Nimitz Middle School in Tulsa. After a rough transition from Foster to Nimitz, Wright, while in 8th grade, gathered himself for a successful year, joining the Nimitz basketball team, earning the highest grade in his German language class, and eventually receiving the Most Improved Student award days before his graduation in 1995.

After his freshman year at Union High School in Tulsa, Wright and his family moved again, this time to Oklahoma City, where he spent his sophomore year and half of his junior year at Westmoore High School. There he excelled as a student and played junior varsity basketball, and also attended vo-tech school for half a day, taking classes in accounting and finance.

In early 1998, Wright and his family moved back to Tulsa, where he returned to Union and also transferred to the Tulsa vo-tech school, soon joining Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), an organization created by Hamden L. Forkner at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1937. He graduated from Union in 1999, becoming the first in his immediate family to graduate from high school and also later becoming a first-generation college student.

College days[edit]

Freshman[edit]

In the fall of 1999, Wright then matriculated to Langston University, the only Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the state of Oklahoma.[3] As a freshman, he worked as a teaching assistant, a research assistant and a tutor in mathematics while serving as president of the Math Club and Pre-Alumni Council.[6] Having earned a 4.0 grade point average during his first semester, Wright was awarded a full scholarship by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his college education. His Gates scholarship would later become a full fellowship for graduate school when he enters Teachers College, Columbia University in 2004.

In the spring of 2000, Wright became an Oklahoma Regents scholar and also made the National Dean's List of America for his academic excellence.[6] Upon completing his research assistantship, Wright presented a research paper on non-routine problems in mathematics at the 1st Annual Research Symposium at Langston. And with a nomination from then-Langston President Ernest Holloway, Wright became a George & Donna Nigh Public Service scholar,[6] a prestigious honor bestowed upon only one student at each university in the state of Oklahoma every year based exclusively on a University presidential nomination.[7]

Sophomore[edit]

By his sophomore year, Wright had emerged as a leader and a scholar, serving as a student ambassador and mentor while maintaining his academic excellence. He joined Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity,[6] and continued working as a teaching assistant and a tutor in mathematics, though his participation in the Math Club and Pre-Alumni Council was waning. In late 2000, Wright was inducted into the Beta Kappa Chi National Scientific Honor Society and became a Thurgood Marshall scholar.[6] In the spring of 2001, Wright became a USAA All-American scholar and also made the National Dean’s List of America again for his academic excellence.[6] Upon completing his two terms as president of the Math Club and Pre-Alumni Council, Wright was elected president of his fraternity chapter, Beta Kappa. That fall, he was also inducted into the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society, Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, and Pi Lambda Theta International Honor Society and Professional Association in Education.[6]

Having read Cornel West's seminal work Race Matters, Wright soon developed an interest in Black existentialism, reading other scholarly works such as W. E. B. Du Bois's classic work The Souls of Black Folk, Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye, and James Baldwin's book The Fire Next Time. Reading these texts inspired Wright to read Dosteovsky's novel Notes from Underground, which in turn led him to the fathers of existentialism, namely, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, as well as Continental philosophy, particularly Kant and Hegel—all four of whom Wright would later read and explore deeply and often while in graduate school. And through Plato, Wright also became acquainted with the enigmatic Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, a character who would eventually transform Wright's ways of being and thinking almost instantly.

Alpha Phi Alpha[edit]

In early 2002, he was elected assistant vice president of the Southwestern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha, thereby becoming only one of five college brothers to serve on the Alpha Phi Alpha National Board of Directors that year.[6] Representing the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, Wright traveled extensively throughout each state primarily to bridge the college-alumni fraternal gap. His tenure as assistant vice president was shaped by meetings and acquaintances with countless people, especially members of Alpha Phi Alpha, most notably Cornel West, author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters; Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta; Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans; Dennis Archer, former mayor of Detroit; Kwame Kilpatrick, also former mayor of Detroit; William H. Gray, former United States Representative from Pennsylvania; Bobby Scott, Representative from Virginia; James R. Williams, former judge of Akron; Henry Ponder, former university president; Milton C. Davis, former assistant Attorney General of Alabama; Harry E. Johnson, attorney and former president of Alpha Phi Alpha; and Lawrence Ross, author of The Divine Nine.

Upperclassman[edit]

From 2002 to 2003, Wright's challenges grew as his coursework became increasingly demanding and his leadership responsibilities more widespread. Despite his busy schedule, Wright remained committed to maintaining his academic excellence and improving his leadership skills. In early 2002, Wright became an OKAMP scholar for the second time since 2000,[8] and also a Melvin Hall scholar and a Jack R. Swain scholar. That fall, President Holloway nominated Wright for the Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian award for his continued leadership and commitment to service.

In the spring of 2003, Wright led a delegation from Langston University to an Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature (OIL) session, where Langston University earned 1st runner-up for Best Delegation, and an Oklahoma Student Government Association (OSGA) conference. And for his demonstrated leadership on campus, in Oklahoma and in the Southwest that year, Wright was named both the Ernest L. Holloway Student Leader of the Year at Langston and the A. Maceo Smith Leader of the Year in the Southwestern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha.

In late 2003, upon realizing he was shy of only one course in order to complete his bachelor's degree requirements, Wright decided he would move back to Tulsa that December and take a course in the spring of 2004 at some university in Tulsa while spending time with his family. He presumed that a big move was forthcoming. On May 15, 2004, Wright graduated with his Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Langston University.[4] And with an acceptance already to graduate school from Teachers College, Columbia University, that summer Wright packed his bags and moved to New York City.

Graduate school days[edit]

Master of Arts[edit]

In the fall of 2004, Wright enrolled at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he studied higher education administration for a year, before transferring to the Program in Mathematics to take classes from professors Henry Pollak and Henry Landau, and to study mathematics education, critical thinking, and problem solving, to name a few.


As a Bill Gates fellow, Wright spent many holidays traveling on study tours sponsored by the Program in Mathematics to several different countries—namely, Finland and Iceland as well as Russia in 2005, South Korea in 2006, Guatemala in 2008, and Australia in 2009—to observe their schools and universities in order to juxtapose the American educational system with their educational systems.[9] In particular, he attempted to ascertain the differences between the mathematics curricula in America and abroad.

In early 2006, Wright was introduced to several different music genres, most notably classic rock and jazz, thus acquiring an eclectic musical taste. This aspect of his life would soon take on a life of its own, as Wright became quite the music lover in a sense that he was once primarily a fan of hip hop, R&B and gospel, and was quickly becoming an avid listener of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis, among many other artists spanning the past six decades. Living in a vibrant cosmopolitan city like New York City also exposed Wright to many diverse subcultures, including the hip hop culture, the "indie" culture, the hippie subculture and the punk subculture, as well as the different kinds of music that embodied each of them.

In the fall of 2006, Wright became a music collector of many classic albums recommended by Rolling Stone magazine such as Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue (1959), John Coltrane's album A Love Supreme (1965), The Beatles's album Revolver (1966), Van Morrison's avant-garde album Astral Weeks (1968) and Marvin Gaye's concept album What's Going On (1971). He also explored a wide range of classical music and opera, attending concerts and performances at Carnegie Hall and The Metropolitan Opera House, thereby gaining a greater appreciation for such music, and also becoming a fan of Beethoven, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky.


In 2007, Wright purchased his first acoustic guitar and began learning about music theory and guitar chords, and even took guitar lessons for a semester a couple years later. He would eventually try his hand at playing piano as well in 2009, but neither pursuit ever materialized in any substantial way due to lack of time already allotted to his graduate studies, work, or leadership duties. Nonetheless, Wright learned an invaluable lesson in the process: the mastery of any art or creative process requires time, effort, concentration and devotion, a theory he would later discover in Erich Fromm's book The Art of Loving.

After receiving his first master's degree in 2007,[2] Wright embarked on a career as an adjunct instructor of mathematics at the Borough of Manhattan Community College while continuing his graduate studies. All of these experiences, new and old, would contribute to Wright's personal and social development, thereby affording him a plethora of opportunities to connect with people from different cultures, countries, and backgrounds—prominently displayed during his Student Senate presidency.

Master of Science[edit]

In the summer of 2008, Wright, having been inspired by Black existentialism while in college, began reading Continental philosophy, beginning with German idealism, which would eventually lead him to 19th century American philosophy. The era of Continental philosophy would not only shape his philosophical intellect but also channel his intellectual ambitions toward epistemology, phenomenology, and existentialism. Starting with excerpts from Kant's influential work Critique of Pure Reason, Wright began grappling with questions of being, knowing, consciousness, self-consciousness and, ultimately, truth.

Wright at the Columbia University Club of New York in NYC in 2008

He would soon find some answers in Hegel's classic philosophical book The Phenomenology of Spirit as well as Kierkegaard's influential works Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death, thereby discovering how critical his faith and relationship to God were for his spiritual growth and stability. As such, apart from enjoying Nietzsche's philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra and accepting Nietzsche's "will to power" concept, derived from Schopenhauer's "will to live" concept, Wright mostly rejected Nietzschean philosophy based on Nietzsche's attacks, mockery and critiques of Christianity. Suddenly, though, Wright developed an interest in the "classics," having noticed that each philosopher whom he was reading at the time, especially Nietzsche, often made contextual references to Homer, Sophocles, Goethe, or the like.

In one such instance, Hegel, in The Phenomenology of Spirit, interpreted Sophocles's play Antigone as he opined on the question whether Antigone was morally obligated to give her brother a proper burial despite his transgressions. Desiring to better understand the context, Wright had decided to read the play but, upon realizing that Antigone is the last third of Sophocles's Theban plays, decided instead to read Oedipus the King first, then some days later Oedipus at Colonus followed by Antigone. However, he was so enthralled by Oedipus the King that he stayed up all night reading it as well as the other two plays, finally learning the complexity of Antigone's dilemma. After reading the Theban plays, Wright began reading other "classics" such as Homer's epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid, Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy, and some of Plato's dialogues—The Apology of Socrates, Ion, Meno, and Symposium, to name a few. Taken together, all of these works afforded Wright many opportunities to examine his courage, spirituality, morality and ethics, and also provided him with a wider historical context to better understand many of the works in modern literature and modern philosophy, especially The Souls of Black Folk.

After a year of independent study of Continental philosophy and some of the "classics," Wright turned his attention to American philosophies of education, reading works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey and, again, Du Bois, among others. Determined to better understand American philosophical and educational foundations, Wright delved into these works deeply, eventually writing a term paper for a course that on the one hand praised Du Bois for his continued striving to better America and all of humanity, and on the other hand criticized him for his bourgeois ideology. In the end, though, Wright admired Du Bois all the more, and began appreciating the likes of Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela.

In 2009, Wright received his second master's degree,[2] having written a thesis on "Teaching Remedial Mathematics Education from the Perspective of Connecting between Advanced Mathematics and High School Mathematics," under the director Bruce Vogeli, Clifford Brewster Upton Professor of Mathematical Education. Ever such an avid reader, Wright continued reading philosophy and literature while taking doctoral courses in mathematics education. Some of his favorite books to date are The Bible, The Souls of Black Folk, Invisible Man, Plato's Apology, the Iliad, Oedipus the King, and The Phenomenology of Spirit.

Student Senate[edit]

An advocate of peace and social justice, Ricco Wright first attracted national attention in October 2007 for his interviews on both CNN and CNN International,[2][10][11] as well as NPR,[12][13] deploring hate crimes and denouncing racism when a noose was found hanging on the office door of an African-American female tenured professor at Teachers College.[14] He was soon recruited by then-president Michelle Cammarata,[15] as well as then-vice president Joe King,[16] to run for Institutional Affairs chair of the Student Senate.[2] That spring, he was elected president,[2] and served in that capacity until May 2009.

As president, Wright served a student body of over 5000 graduate and professional students from all 50 US states and approximately 80 different countries,[17] and also served as student representative on several different College committees, including the Teachers College Board of Trustees.[18]


One of the Student Senate's remarkable accomplishments during his presidency was the establishment of the campus-wide Go Green committee, which organized the popular Rockin' Earth Day Festival on April 18, 2009, that featured performances by legendary folk singer Pete Seeger and several others.[19]

Doctor of Education[edit]

For his dissertation, Wright is studying the effects of relational thinking in elementary and middle school mathematics at Harlem Children's Zone. His main interests are mathematics education, numeracy, arithmetic, elementary algebra, critical thinking, problem solving, multicultural education, remedial education, and urban education.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Levine, Joe. "Talking Obama," "Inside TC," January 19, 2009, accessed December 11, 2010
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Teachers College Staff Writer. "He's Working for You" "TC Today," September 10, 2008, accessed December 11, 2010
  3. ^ a b Thomas, Dan A. "The Next Barack Obama?", "For the Love of the Pen", September 11, 2008, accessed December 12, 2010
  4. ^ a b LU Commencement Committee. "Commencement 2004," "Langston University Commencement 2004," May 15, 2004, accessed December 11, 2010
  5. ^ U.S. News & World Report. "Best Education Programs," "Rankings," Fall 2010, accessed December 12, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lyle, William. "Distinguished Collegians 2002–2003", "The Sphinx," Summer 2003, Volume 88, Number 2, p. 26, accessed December 12, 2010
  7. ^ Hardcastle, Ben. "Former Governor and Wife Honored for Public Service", October 16, 2009, OSRHE Current News, accessed December 11, 2010
  8. ^ Lyle, William. "Distinguished Collegians 2002–2003", "The Sphinx," Summer 2003, Volume 88, Number 2, p. 43, accessed December 12, 2010
  9. ^ Particelli, Brice. "Taking TC on the Road," "TC Today," September 24, 2008, accessed December 12, 2010
  10. ^ CNN. "Noose on Campus," "CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff interviews Ricco Wright at Columbia University," October 10, 2007, accessed December 11, 2010
  11. ^ CNN. "Noose on Campus," "CNN Anchor Heidi Collins interviews Ricco Wright at CNN studios," October 11, 2007, accessed December 11, 2010
  12. ^ NPR. "Audio: Columbia Responds to Noose Incident," "NPR Host Farai Chideya interviews Ricco Wright at NPR Studios," October 12, 2007, accessed December 11, 2010
  13. ^ NPR. "Transcript: Columbia Responds to Noose Incident," "NPR Host Farai Chideya interviews Ricco Wright at NPR Studios," October 12, 2007, accessed December 11, 2010
  14. ^ ABC News. "Police Investigate Possible Hate Crime; Student Walkout Planned, "Hangman's Noose Targets Columbia Professor," October 10, 2007, accessed December 11, 2010
  15. ^ Teachers College Staff Writer. "Learning What It Means to Lead", October 18, 2007, accessed December 12, 2010
  16. ^ Teachers College Staff Writer. "Partnership is Theme at TC's Convocation Exercises", May 23, 2008, accessed December 12, 2010
  17. ^ TC Office of Diversity. "Demographics," "College Profile 2009–2010," Summer 2010, accessed December 12, 2010
  18. ^ TC Office of Diversity. "Committee for Community & Diversity (CCD)," 2008–2009, accessed December 14, 2010
  19. ^ Brooklyn Vega. "Clearwater Festival... Pete Seeger... Columbia University," "Pete Seeger @ Columbia in April," June 20, 2009, accessed December 12, 2010


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