Dr. Chezare A. Warren hails from the South Side of Chicago where he began singing at an early age. He is a proud alum of Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago and the University of Illinois Black Chorus. Grandson of a Jamaican immigrant, Chezare earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While teaching is Chezare’s first love, music has always brought him immeasurable joy. As an undergraduate, he founded and was lead singer of a men’s Acapella group.

After nearly a decade of K-12 teaching and leading, Chezare began a career in higher education after receipt of his PhD from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. Warren’s training in policy studies, urban education, and critical race studies has led to the publication of three books and more than 50 articles, chapters, reports, and commentaries since 2013.

Chezare’s academic achievements have garnered national and international recognition. He is recipient of two early career awards from the American Educational Research Association. In 2019, he was the first faculty member in Michigan State University College of Education history to be awarded the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine/Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, and in 2024 delivered the Charles DeGarmo Lecture—the highest honor awarded to an education scholar from the Society of Professors of Education.

A highly sought after speaker, Dr. Warren has held visiting faculty appointments at Stanford University, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania. When not reading, writing, teaching, or speaking, you might find Chezare performing for a special event, recording original music, or singing at a local karaoke spot.