Sean Nank, PhD, received the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Sean was a Distinguished Teacher in Residence and is an adjunct professor at California State University San Marcos, a full professor at American College of Education, and works for Oceanside Unified School District. He has published multiple books, articles, and K-12 math curricula. He published in the MTLT special edition May 2023 with the article “It’s off the screen: Unearthing megagons through technology. His third and fourth books titled “Empathetic storytelling volume I: Igniting change in education” and “Empathetic storytelling, volume II: Sparking transformation in education” are currently available on his website at www.SeanNank.com. Sean is currently writing his fifth book.
He has worked in various positions with the United States Department of Education, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science Foundation, California Department of Education, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, San Diego County Office of Education, and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.
Sean served on the Board of Directors at the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) as the editor of their Journal of Mathematics Education Leadership (JMEL) and currently is an elected board member as the Regional Director for Western 2. Sean was appointed as the NCTM MARC representative for the Western 2 region, 2019-2022. He was also appointed to represent the USA at the International Congress on Mathematical Education in Korea as the mathematics assessment expert, which culminated in a congressional address as to the current state of mathematics education.
Sean has over 25 publications including four books and has presented over 125 times at local, regional, state, national, and international conferences. He is humbled at the impact his ShadowCon presentation elicits from educators and parents alike, which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk61OxIct2s
Sean is a Solution Tree Associate, was Facilitator for Illustrative Mathematics, and has been a curriculum and professional development writer for multiple corporations as well as a math coach. Sean also worked at Amplify as a math content designer to digitize the 5 Practices, as the Mathematics Professional Development Specialist, and as the Professional Development Design Specialist.
Sean completed two terms as President of the Greater San Diego Mathematics Council (2017-2021) and continues to consult for various districts across the country. Sean was the head of two grants designed to transform K-16 pedagogical strategies and part of two other grants to accomplish the same goal. Sean is also a special consultant for a MSTI endeavor, creating curricula and support for in-service educators to expand their expertise via summer academies.
Sean’s current research includes creating equitable space for ALL student voices while integrating students’ passions into K-12 classrooms via empathetic storytelling, technology, curricula, Adaptive Pedagogies, and shifting strategies for math content and methods courses at the university level.
Sean was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and now resides in southern California. Sean enjoys his relatively new dance hobby, including ballet, hip hop, and tap. His inspiration for the new found passion is a direct result of his daughter’s competitive dance career. They have danced on stage together for over a decade. Sean performed as a professional company dancer in the Nutcracker ballet production with the California Ballet Company in 2019.

For further information, please visit www.SeanNank.com

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