Joe Alicea is a PhD candidate in the Department of Literature with designated emphases in Latin American and Latino Studies and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. He holds an MA in English from Villano University and a BA in Philosophy from St. John’s College. Joe Is working on his dissertation, “Improvising Outs,” which surveys the improvisational and rioutous works of black, Puerto Rican, and Chicana/o/x poets in Chicago whose poetic and political projects converged under the banner of Fred Hampton’s Rainbow Coalition in the late 1960s and 1970s. In the classroom, Joe encourages dialogue, critical and creative thinking, and a general openness to alternative ideas or modes of thought. As a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow, Joe is looking forward to collaborating with a community of teachers interested in imagining and establishing more equitable and interdisciplinary pedagogical practices.