Ei-iE

Lily Eskelsen García

Lily Eskelsen García is a teacher whose work in education spans from her first job as a school lunch lady to being elected president of the largest union in the United States, the 3-million-member National Education Association. Her career includes service as her State’s Teacher of the Year, as President of the Utah State Retirement system, as her party’s nominee for U.S. Congress and as Commissioner for President Barack Obama’s White House Commission for Education Excellence for Hispanics. She is founder of an endowed scholarship program at the University of Utah for bilingual aspiring teachers, Maestros Para Los Niños. She and her husband, Alberto Garcia, are the author/illustrator of the bilingual book, Rabble Rousers: Fearless Fighters for Social Justice, which they published to raise funds to help undocumented Dreamers. Lily retired as president of NEA in 2020, is currently pursuing a doctorate in Teaching, Learning and Culture, and continues to represent educators globally as a Vice President of Education International.

Written by Lily Eskelsen García

  1. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 28 April 2020

    “We are one world”, by Lily Eskelsen García.

    Lily Eskelsen García

    As COVID-19 pandemic continues spreading around the world, educators are being called on to teach, reach and comfort their students and guide frantic parents. Stories shared by my EI colleagues fill me with hope. We are all in this together. We will get through this crisis together.

    “We are one world”, by Lily Eskelsen García.
  2. Trade union rights are human rights 23 August 2018

    #EI25: “When Ordinary People Demand Justice”, by Lily Eskelsen García

    Lily Eskelsen García

    Sometimes what touches us at an international meeting isn’t what’s on the agenda. It’s what was outside on the street. Sometimes it’s the crushing courage of tiny, fragile grandmothers who would not be stopped and who serve as an example to all social justice activists of what we are called...

    #EI25: “When Ordinary People Demand Justice”, by Lily Eskelsen García