Rawa Abu Alsamah Empowers Educators
Rawa Abu Alsamah, a PhD candidate in education leadership and policy studies at the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver, is making a profound impact on the next generation of educators. As a special education senior team lead at Denver Public Schools (DPS), she supports new special education teachers as they begin their careers — a path that can be just as challenging as it is rewarding.
Abu Alsamah’s work includes helping new special education teachers navigate curriculum, design lesson plans, access resources, and write IEPs (individual education programs) that help students succeed in school. A trained educator herself, she often co-teaches with colleagues, providing collaborative learning opportunities for her mentees and their students alike.
“Our students are very smart, and they need to learn in specific ways,” she says, explaining that special education students’ needs, accommodations, and goals can vary widely. As such, educators must be able to provide accessible, inclusive learning environments that serve all students. By “teaching the teachers” these skills, Abu Alsamah has an exponential impact on DPS and beyond.
“In the field of education, you can have a reverberating impact,” she says.
Abu Alsamah’s studies at DU have provided her with a solid foundation on which she is building her career and honing her leadership and mentorship abilities. She recalls a pivotal experiential learning assignment in a graduate class with Kristina A. Hesbol, PhD, where she was tasked with shadowing a district leader. She asked Anthony Smith, PhD — also a DU alum and deputy superintendent at DPS — if she could shadow him at work for a day.
“As a teacher, I never thought in a million years that I would be able to sit next to a superintendent at a leadership meeting and share my opinions,” Abu Alsamah reflects. “It helped me understand how decisions are made in school districts, which made me a better-informed teacher. I got to see the other side of the table.”
Abu Alsamah’s passion for education was sparked in childhood, thanks in part to her fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Zenab. “The way she taught science was amazing,” Abu Alsamah says. “She made me fall in love with science. I wanted to be like her when I grew up.”
Although she began college as a physics major, she soon switched to early childhood education, where she found another passion: “making students feel heard and seen, providing them with the support they need.”
Abu Alsamah also credits her father for nurturing her dreams. With a large home library and fluency in several languages, he exposed her very early to the importance of learning. “I was a very curious kid,” she says, and now she is proud to foster that same curiosity in today’s young people.
That dream became a reality through donor funding, which opened doors she never thought possible. “Without scholarships, such as the Dodd Miller Scholarship, none of this would have been possible,” Abu Alsamah shared during a recent speech.
“I am profoundly grateful for the generosity of supporters like the Miller family, whose contributions pave the way for individuals like me to become the leaders they were meant to be.”
This scholarship support did more than advance Abu Alsamah’s career; it created a direct pipeline of impact. By funding her education, scholarships gave her the tools to empower dozens of teachers, who in turn uplift hundreds of students across Denver.
Strengthening the Backbone of Special Education
Special education teachers work within complex, high-stakes environments that require extensive paperwork and documentation, strong relationship-building, and high-quality instruction. Drawing on the strong knowledge she gained at the University of Denver, Abu Alsamah is committed to ensuring educators are prepared, supported, and empowered to meet the full scope of their roles.
“The workload of special education teachers is very challenging,” she says. “They have a caseload between 10 and 25 students, each with individualized goals, and they often teach multiple subjects.”
As part of her PhD research, Abu Alsamah is studying how emergent artificial intelligence technologies might be able to assist with lightening this load, but she emphasizes that hands-on training and experience make for capable and resilient educators — and, ultimately, successful students.
“Education is such a powerful tool,” Abu Alsamah says. “Even if you don’t feel the impact immediately, it changes lives, families, communities, and society.”
Let’s show the world what DU can do.
Your scholarship support fuels the next generation of entrepreneurs and community leaders.
The Denver Difference campaign is empowering DU to lead with a bold, innovative approach and redefine higher education—driving a lasting impact on the public good through its visionary people, programs, and places.
University of Denver | Advancement | 2199 S. University Blvd | Denver, CO 80208 | advancement@du.edu
Built with Shorthand