Our Team
Professors Justin Freedman and A.J. Ernst grew up together in New Jersey, where they learned how helping others can be grounding, rewarding, and ultimately shape their lives. As teenagers, they launched The Community of Lawrence, a nonprofit that links young people with local, mission-driven organizations, including park cleanups, a food pantry, blood drives, and service projects that drew hundreds of volunteers. In 2009, they received the Rebecca Annitto Award for outstanding achievement in public and community service from the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
That early blueprint—connection → purpose → meaning—now underpins all of their work. At Rowan University, Justin is a professor, special education advocate, and community builder who designs systems that enable overlooked students to flourish. A.J., a former teacher and principal turned policy analyst, builds access-focused programs that translate evidence into everyday practice. Together, they help young people, families, and institutions reorient toward meaningful lives.
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Dr. Justin Freedman is an Assistant Professor in Rowan University’s Department of Interdisciplinary & Inclusive Education whose work helps campuses boost student wellbeing, belonging, and persistence. He designs inclusive practices—self-advocacy training, universal design approaches, and evidence-based accommodations—that make it easier for more students to thrive. His research examines ADHD discourse and how college students actually advocate for disability-related accommodations, often using clinical simulations to turn findings into teachable skills.
Justin’s publications span Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (on simulated accommodation meetings), Disability & Society (critical discourse analysis of ADHD criteria), International Journal of Inclusive Education (ADHD in teacher-ed textbooks), and Frontiers in Psychiatry (how ADHD is reified in public discourse).
His Syracuse University Ph.D. dissertation pioneered a simulation method to study how students negotiate with faculty about accommodations—work he now adapts for campus workshops and instructor training.
At Rowan, Justin contributes to inclusion-focused professional learning (e.g., LRC-South’s paraprofessional series) and was recognized with Rowan’s Frances S. Johnson Junior Faculty Innovative Teaching Award.
His scholarship also includes Teachers College Record on how race and learning disability categories get “located” within students rather than systems.
A former middle-school social studies teacher (Philadelphia) and high-school special educator (Massachusetts), Justin brings lived experience to his work: diagnosed with ADHD and a learning disability at age five, he learned to translate difference into strategies—and now helps students and faculty do the same through universal design, clearer accommodation processes, and strengths-based coaching. (Early career and diagnosis details per client materials.)
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A.J. Ernst is a lifelong educator who helps students and institutions thrive. He turns evidence into outcomes—designing programs that boost connection, purpose, and the foundations that make change last.
A Teach For America alum and former Philadelphia principal, A.J. led Girard College’s academic strategic plan and implementation that contributed to 100% college acceptance and a stronger culture for faculty and students. As Dean of Students at Young Scholars Charter School, he helped lead the school to become the highest-performing in the city serving low-income families.
As a Harvard Strategic Data Project fellow, he partnered with 600+ New Jersey districts to improve data quality, build dashboards, and translate findings into learner outcomes (e.g., discipline disproportionality, English-learner effectiveness). He has consulted with independent schools and colleges on student experience, first-year belonging, and wellness-aligned course and co-curricular design—and coaches students to high performance using strengths-based routines and phone-smart study habits.
He teaches graduate courses at Rowan University and founded Arete Preparatory Academy, which placed 52 students into selective high schools and colleges with scholarships. Internationally, he collaborates with NGOs serving underserved populations and advances access-increasing innovations.
A.J. holds his doctorate and master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, with certifications in teaching, data analysis, International Baccalaureate, and personal training. He specializes in scalable, cost-effective designs that make excellent teaching—and student thriving—easier to deliver every day.
