Connections That Count: Mastering Career Growth Through Strategic Relationships

J.R. Rucker

Ed.D

Dr. J.R. Rucker is a professor at USC and has over 24 years

experience in education as a special education teacher, Athletic &

Activities Director, as well as a site administrator.

A native of Pine Bluff Arkansas, Dr. Rucker attended the University

of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and completed his doctoral studies at the

University of Southern California.

Dr. J.R. Rucker is the host of the Educational Truth Podcast and is

an author of three books. Recently Dr. Rucker was named

associate counselor of the USC Alpha Gamma Gamma Chapter of

Kappa Delta Pi.

The focus of Dr. Rucker’s education consulting is in student

motivation, mentorship, behavior support, and cultural

understanding.

Dr. Rucker lives in Southern California with his wife and three

daughters.

You can reach Dr. Rucker via email at info@drjrrucker.com.

His website is drjrrucker.com

Alondra Morales

M.Ed.

USC Rossier School of Education

Alondra Morales serves as the Assistant Director for the Global Executive Doctor of Education program at USC's Rossier School of Education. She received her Master of Education from USC's Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs program in 2019. She received her Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Development and Bachelor of Arts in Chicanx Studies from UC Davis. Alondra is passionate about educational equity and community building, specifically focusing on the intersections of identities of marginalized communities. She works towards implementing equitable practices in her professional and personal life on a daily basis.

Valencia Belle

Ed.D.

As a Scientist and Entrepreneur who has spent her career helping to shape young minds by

opening up the possibilities of “STEM” careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math,

Dr. Belle is one of six inaugural recipients worldwide of the prestigious 2021 Wharton

Knowledge For Impact Awards from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of

Business, as well as a 2019 Scholarship Recipient from Harvard University’s Institute of Urban

School Leaders. She has authored “The Seven Women Every Woman Should Know” and “The

Belle Method of Academic Currency”, and co-authored “Glory: The Struggle For Yards”. Her test

prep expertise with S.C.H.O.O.L.S. has been featured nationally and internationally, having

most recently been chosen as one of the top 40 global solutions for eradicating gender inequity

in STEM for the 2023 MIT Gender Equity in STEM Challenge. Dr. Belle has been a featured

speaker at the 2023 Inaugural USC Rossier Research Conference and the 2021 ACAN

Conference for Alabama Possible. Receiving her Doctorate in Education, with a concentration in

Organizational Change and Leadership, from the University of Southern California in 2023, Dr.

Belle was named as a 2023 23 Women in Tech by Business Alabama Magazine, was awarded

the Inaugural BT20 Award as one of the top 10 Black Alumni in the history of the University of

Southern California, received the prestigious 2023 ASU+GSV G Cup Elite 200 Award for

Ed-Tech as one of the top 200 ed-tech companies in the world, won the 2023 IdeaVillage Pitch

Competition sponsored by Dell, was inducted into the 2023 Murphy High School Hall of Fame,

placed first in the 2022 Alabama Launchpad’s Social Impact Seed Round Award Competition

sponsored by the EDPA, and pitched for the 2022 USC EdVentures Cohort IV Accelerator led by

Douglas Lynch and Mark DeGennaro. Her company, a globally certified Benefit Corporation, has

helped more that 250,000 students earn over $250 million dollars in scholarships.

An elite USATAF Junior Olympian Track and Field scholar-athlete who began running track at

the age of 5, entered high school as a fee-for-service tutorial entrepreneur at the age of 12,

qualified for NCAA D1 Early Academic Qualifier (EAQ) Status, all while earning multiple D1

offers, national engineering awards and academic presidential full-ride scholarships before

graduating high school at the age of 16, Dr. Valencia Belle is the Founder of two programs,

S.C.H.O.O.L.S. for scholars and C.L.E.A.R.E.D for scholar-athletes. S.C.H.O.O.L.S., or Success

Can Happen Out Of Low Scores, affords high-quality, cost-effective standardized test prep to

scholars and scholar-athletes, occasioning 5-10 point ACT and SAT 100 -200 point average

composite score increases with as little as five weeks of test prep. These composite score gains

have been shown statistically to eradicate inter-generational poverty for up to 3 generations

occasioned by college-loan debt by enabling the attainment of presidential full-ride scholarships

with refunds, especially for demographics stemming from marginalized communities.

C.L.E.A.R.E.D., a program specifically catered for scholar-athletes, focuses on obtaining NCAA

D1 Clearance with matching GPAs and ACT/SAT scores. A primary focus is the acquisition of

intangible and marketable soft skills necessary to deal with “the mess, the press, and the stress”

of instilling accountability for personal ownership by the scholar-athlete of his or her brand

management through self-identification and critical thinking skills training for implementation in

the classroom, the media and beyond - both on and off the field, track, or court.