Thanks for navigating to my site! My name is Kaleb Germinaro, Ph.D., and I am a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a former high school football coach, dog dad, son, brother, friend and many other things! The core of my work is around the design of learning experiences in environments where space and place are central; where youth, communities and ecosystems are setup for actualizing resistance to systems of power and processes of displacement, gentrification and erasure of sociocultural ways of being and knowledge making. This allows me the framing to focus on the spatial, relational, political and historical dimensions where learning can be tethered and situated to address past injustices to ensure our collective just futures across difference.

Currently living in Chicago, IL, I have had the privilege of engaging with this place, learning and loving how it’s added to my journey and supported me over time while allowing me to grow. I moved here from Seattle, where I attended the University of Washington and was able to spend time stewarding Estelita’s Library. I moved there from Philly where I went to the University of Pennsylvania and received my BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics with a focus in Urban Studies and my master’s in Human Development. I moved to Philly from Phoenix, where I grew up and played football, allowing me to play in college. I then was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at 19, which set me on my disability justice and academic path. This is key to my story as I keenly pay attention to and focus on space, how my disability and Blackness are supported and/or suppressed in spaces, and how I navigate justice and liberation through my spatial orientations.

Many things are important to me; they all boil down to supporting livingness in many forms. Sometimes it looks like designing a lesson plan, and other times it looks like facilitating the adoption of a dog. In my free time I enjoy animals, biking and short (incline-less) strolls through the woods and my pup. I also dabble in photography and enjoy art, supporting it, and making space for it outside of my academic pursuits. Feel free to check out some of my photos as well. Enjoy.