DeLeon Gray is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Equity in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. He was recently a Scholar-in-Residence in Michigan State University’s College of Education. His program of research has been recognized by receipt of prestigious honors including a 2018 Best Article Award for his collaborative publication in Educational Psychologist entitled, “Black and Belonging at School: A Case for Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Opportunity Structures.” A key initiative during the 2019-2020 academic year is to work jointly with education stakeholders to disrupt structural aspects of schooling environments that leave students of color vulnerable to anxieties about belonging. His efforts involve (1) developing culturally sensitive observation and survey tools to assess students’ opportunities to belong in the classroom, (2) disseminating user-friendly resources the can inform public discourse on ways of honoring and affirming students in academic settings, (3) educating funders and school administrators as they make strategic investments in research designed to shape students’ sense of psychological membership at school and (4) establishing a networked community of educators and researchers who are firmly committed to making schools places where students are accepted, respected, included and supported.