Meet Adam Ragan Amodeo

Adam received his M.A. in English Linguistics from Arizona State University, where he worked on demonstrating the harms SEI has on Arizona’s English Language Learners. Adam relocated to Tucson after grad school, with an eye towards social justice & equity building in the community. He has worked as both a community organizer & educator, opening southern Arizona’s LGBTQ youth center, located on 4th Avenue & continuing to teach college writing courses (101/102) in Phoenix & Tucson. He eventually took on the role of dual-enrollment instruction at the high school level & also taught high school English. He is dual-certified secondary education, in ELA & government/poli sci. Adam continues as adjunct writing faculty at PCC.

Beyond the classroom, Adam has long championed public education & has been active in local & state politics. He ran for the TUSD school board & served on TUSD’s Family Life Curriculum Committee, authoring revisions to the middle & high school sex ed curricula. A champion of workers’ rights, he served as co-chair of the César Chávez Holiday Committee & has served in leadership with his union. He was the Mayor’s appointee on Tucson’s GLBT Commission, serving as co-chair & advising on issues facing the LGBTQ community. He has served on several non-profit boards of directors & continues to exert energies to make his community better. He was selected the 2020 Tucson Man of the Year.

Adam is a fan of the WNBA, a student of history, a connoisseur of dark humor & enthusiastic reader. He’s an avid, self-taught crocheter, something you can catch him doing wherever he goes. A big fan of Doctor Who, Adam spends an inordinate amount of time watching for the TARDIS, hoping to explore all of time & space. He continues a proud tradition of cooking & baking instilled by his parents. Proud of his Italian & Irish heritages, Adam keeps both close to his heart, following the politics & cultures of both. A keen Spades player, he enjoys teaching others to play the game.