As we continue our conversation after Teacher Appreciation week and celebrate Mental Health Aware Month this May we discuss recruiting and retention in the teaching profession with Dr. Valerie Hill-Jackson who dives into the topic of teacher's mental health and how to create better spaces for teachers. Dr. Valerie Hill-Jackson received her Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Educational Leadership degree, summa c*m laude, in 2003 from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She joined the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M University in September 2004 and teaches courses, as a clinical professor, in the teacher education and multicultural/urban program areas. In 2018, Dr. Hill-Jackson was appointed by the Office of the Dean as the Director of Educator Preparation and School Partnerships. And in June 2019, Hill-Jackson was appointed as the Assistant Dean of Educator Preparation and School Partnerships. Dr. Hill-Jackson is a nationally and university-recognized educator having garnered: 2007 Maybelline / People Magazine Women Who Empower Through Education Award; the 2008 Texas A&M University (TAMU) Association of Former Students Award for Distinguished Teaching; 2008 Transfer Camp Namesake (TAMU); 2010 Student-Led Award for Teaching Excellence (SLATE) at TAMU; 2010 Outstanding Panhellenic Professor; 2011 National Society of Collegiate Scholars Inspire Integrity Top 10 Finalist award; Honorary Guest Coach for the Texas A & M University Women's Basketball Team, 2011 NCAA Champs, at the McNeese U. Home Game 2011; 2013 Upton Sinclair award; 2015 Aggies Commit to Transforming Lives Administrative Fellow; and the 2016 Educational Institution Image Award by the Edwards Ministerial Association. Dr. Hill-Jackson developed three new graduate courses including one that is integral to the Educational Leadership in Curriculum and Instruction program. Dr. Hill-Jackson's teaching philosophy is best explained with her simple quote, "students first through action research." Dr. Hill-Jackson's books include: Transforming Teacher Education: What Went Wrong with Teacher Training and How We Can Fix It (Stylus, 2010); Better Principals, Better Schools: What Star Principals Know, Believe, and Do (IAP, 2016); Better Teachers, Better Schools: What Star Teachers Know, Believe, and Do (IAP, 2017); Teacher Confidential: Personal Stories of Stress, Self-Care, and Resilience (iUniverse, 2018) and; What Makes a Star Teacher: 7 Dispositions That Support Student Learning (ASCD, 2019). Dr. Hill-Jackson's research interests include: critical teacher education, transformative/servant leadership, service-learning/community education, ethnography, gifted education, culture + curriculum, and STEM education for underserved learners. Early in her career, Dr. Hill-Jackson received the prestigious American Educational Research Association / Spencer fellowship for her qualitative dissertation and was conferred with the LEAD Poisoning Star Award for her research in community education. In 2013, Hill-Jackson won a Traditional Core Fulbright Award and was hosted by the Center for Critical and Cultural Theory at the School of English Communication and Philosophy at Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales. Hill-Jackson received a 2018-2019 Melbern G. Glasscock NTT Faculty Research Fellowship.