Dr. Charles Herring is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the South Fayette Township School District, McDonald, PA.
Dr. Herring has worked in the field of education for over 25 years. He started his career in the Wilkinsburg School District in a 3/4th multi-grade classroom. While working in Wilkinsburg, Dr. Herring created America’s First Hip-Hop Superhero – GRAMMAR MAN!™ an educational program that uses rap music and storytelling as tools to teach students the parts of speech. In 1999, after being asked to be the keynote speaker for Princeton University’s first-ever, Hip-Hop in Education Conference, Dr. Herring left K-12 education to become a professional speaker and trainer. During that time, Dr. Herring traveled the country to speak for organizations such as Kroger, Giant Eagle, the State of Arizona, the State of New Jersey, and many others. Additionally, Dr. Herring created two additional educational programs, Black History is Not Just a Month and The Mathematics Magician. Dr. Herring is also the author of a memoir in essays titled, YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN ME: It’s Impossible to Stop a Person Who Won’t Quit.
Upon returning to the classroom in 2012 as a faculty member in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education’s Falk Laboratory School, Dr. Herring taught Kindergarten, mentored future teachers, acquired his Reading Specialist Certification, and began work on his Doctorate in Language, Literacy, and Culture. In August 2015, Dr. Herring began working at South Fayette as the K-5 Gifted/Enrichment Coordinator. In that role, he was tasked with transforming the program from a more traditional Gifted/Enrichment model to one that was primarily, project-based. This led Dr. Herring to initiate a partnership with Carnegie-Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center to provide a real-world perspective for students on how to craft storylines and to write scripts as the introduction to his annual filmmaking venture, Project Green & White. Dr. Herring is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh’s LDI 8. Additionally, he enthusiastically participates in events hosted by Trying Together, the Remake Learning Network, the Green Building Alliance, and several other organizations in the region.
Phone: 412-221-4542 x 572