PROVIDENCE – Sokeo Ros, a trauma-informed educator, artist and social justice advocate who recently served as director of Providence College’s Center at Moore Hall, has been named the new executive director for Inspiring Minds, the local nonprofit announced late Thursday.
Ros now leads a nonprofit that for the past six decades has provided urban students with academic supports to aid their success. Currently, Inspiring Minds serves more than 3,000 students with in-school tutoring, mentoring and teacher pathway placements, among other services.
Ros officially became the organization’s top director on Jan. 16 and succeeded Melissa Emidy in that role. Emidy stepped down from the organization back in June to pursue other opportunities, Inspiring Minds board Chairperson Tammy Warner told Providence Business News on Friday. Celine Coggins served as Inspiring Minds’ interim executive director until December while a new leader was sought, Warner said.
Inspiring Minds says Ros’ focus on trauma-informed education was born from personal experience. The organization says Ros, born in a Cambodian refugee camp where his family had fled to escape Khmer Rouge, carried those traumatic events into adulthood.
Inspiring Minds says that Ros in his new role pledged to create a culture of care to which relationship building creates a base for all programming and where students have more opportunities to learn in multiple ways.
“We need to understand how being traumatized or marginalized can affect students’ brains and their learning,” Ros said in a statement.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.