Maureen O’Connor is the Education Specialist in the Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past Initiative within the Smithsonian’s Office of the Under Secretary for Education. After completing a teaching fellowship in the United Kingdom, she spent eight years designing and facilitating civics and art history-based programs for K12 students, educators, and museum professionals at various state and national museums. She is passionate about interdisciplinary and multi-perspective approaches to history, object-based learning, and supporting educators in museum and school settings. She holds a B.A. in History and English from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Museum Studies and Art History from Virginia Commonwealth University.