Elizabeth Jamison-Dunn, principal of Catalyst Circle Rock charter school in Austin, is a finalist for Teach For America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana’s annual Alumni of the Year awards.
The Zell Family Alumni of the Year awards honor those who have shaped equity and community in their schools and were a part of the Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana branch of Teach For America, a national nonprofit that places college graduates to teach in schools that are underserved.
“I was so happy. I have worked really hard to try to do right by my school community,” Jamison-Dunn said of the moment she found out she was nominated for the award. “My favorite part about my job is knowing that what I do matters, and it matters every day.”
Jamison-Dunn grew up in Chicago and went to Howard University to study political science. She had aspirations to be a lawyer, but found herself drawn to the education sector while tutoring and volunteering in schools around Washington D.C.
“The more I learned about the achievement gap or the opportunity gap, the more I got inspired to try to do something to help address some of the inequities I thought were in the education system,” Jamison-Dunn said.
So, in her junior year at Howard, Jamison-Dunn applied for Teach For America. In 2007, TFA placed her as a seventh-grade teacher at Catalyst Circle Rock, a charter school that opened that year.
Jamison-Dunn started teaching eighth grade too, then became director of instruction, where she provided coaching and professional development to Catalyst Circle Rock’s teachers. In 2015, Jamison-Dunn became principal of the school, which today serves over 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, most of whom live on the West Side of Chicago.
Jamison-Dunn is one of the two finalists for school leaders for Teach For America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana’s Alumni of the Year awards. She said that, after she discovered two of her connections from Teach For America nominated her, she submitted an application to be considered for the award.
“I helped to raise [Catalyst Circle Rock], so it was great knowing that other people recognize some of the progress that we as a team have made,” Jamison-Dunn said. She credits her award nomination to the school’s scholars, their families and the staff “who are all committed to teaching minds and touching hearts of the students here on the West Side of Chicago.”
Jamison-Dunn will find out if she won the Alumni of the Year award in May at Teach For America’s annual gala. She is also an ambassador for the 25th anniversary of Teach For America this year.
Jamison-Dunn won the 2012 Teach for America Chicago Alumni Distinguished Teacher Award and was a finalist for the 2019 Illinois Network of Charter Schools Charter Excellence Award for Principal of the Year. She also won the 2024 CPS Game Changer Award for Charter Leaders. She has two master’s degrees through Teach For America cohorts at Dominican University and is pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership at Illinois State University.
