Parshan Khosravi

Oct 27, 2022 | Speaker

Parshan Khosravi is an Iranian American of Zoroastrian faith who is currently a candidate for the city council in Laguna Hills, California. He has over a decade of experience in education advocacy and currently serves as the California Policy Director for uAspire, a national nonprofit focused on higher education access and economic mobility.

A double alum of the University of California, Parshan received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Education Sciences from UC Irvine and his Master’s Degree in Public Policy from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.  As a devout Zoroastrian, he spends most of his spare time organizing with his faith community at local, national, and global levels. In July 2022, Parshan received the coveted Rising Youth Award at the World Zoroastrian Congress in New York.

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Parshan Khosravi

Oct 27, 2022

Kalyan Balaven serves as the Head of Dunn School, where he is deeply committed to fostering authentic humanity in education. Balaven strives to teach and lead in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.

Balaven is the founder of the Inclusion Dashboard Consortium and the Santa Barbara Inclusion Lab, two initiatives dedicated to helping schools measure and strengthen belonging within their communities. Through these efforts, he provides valuable tools that enable educational institutions to create more inclusive environments.

As the host of The Whole Student podcast, Balaven delves into the intersection of data-informed inclusion and genuine human connection in education. His writing and interviews, featured by organizations such as the National Association of Independent Schools and Business Leadership for Independent Schools, explore how schools can use data to support meaningful inclusion while maintaining a focus on each student’s needs and experiences.

Balaven practices Shia Islam as a follower of the legacy of Fatima. He is one of the few English-speaking elegists in the tradition of marsiya*, having composed “The Tragedy of Karbala and Other Poems.” Through his poetry, Balaven weaves the remembrance of Karbala into his work, enriching his approach to teaching, leadership, and inclusion with spiritual depth and cultural understanding.

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*Marsiya: The word is derived from the Arabic word marthiyya, meaning “lamentation” or “tragedy”.