Doctor of Education, 2018
Three words encapsulate your Northeastern University experience:
Transformational | Experiential | Foundational
What has yor journey revealed to you about yourself?
My journey has given me more confidence and compassion for others. I went through my struggles and watched others struggle. I have been lifted and held up by the Northeastern community and helped others along the way. When we use the word colleague at Northeastern, we mean it. I have also been called to be a leader at Northeastern, either as a student leader or one of the few African American male leaders in my department. I take it very seriously to be an exemplar to the students and faculty I get to serve. Black men only make up 2.5 percent of all doctoral degrees at PWIs and HBCUs. If that number is to increase, it takes a village and role models.
What were some of the reasons you chose to join the Northeastern community? Since joining, what have been some of the opportunities and challenges you have experienced?
I started at Northeastern as a student right before COVID. I was encouraged to apply because I was told I needed a liver transplant. I had a rare disease called PSC, which impacts 100,000 men. At the time, I was working at a Global Faith Based Charity, serving as the Community Service Division Vice President, which involved managing 36,000 volunteers in North America, including Canada and the Caribbean. I was told I would not be able to travel or work in disaster relief because of the possibility of infection for the first few years. I was devastated and shared my situation with my friend, Dr. Katrina Hutchins, a Northeastern Alum. We had previously worked together in the nonprofit community in South Carolina, our home state. She suggested, “You need to go get your Doctoral Degree at Northeastern in Education. You can then become a professor and work online.” I was initially scared of that idea. I was a DJ and Frat boy in undergrad with a high C average, and I thought that would hinder my admissions. I did better in graduate school and also had over twenty years of nonprofit experience, and I shared my passion for education in my essay.
Luckily for me, Northeastern looks at the whole student body and allows our life experience to be a big part of your admissions process. I remember getting the email of acceptance and freaking out. I thought if I wrote an email there, it would be I am gettwouldggeten I opened the email, I just sat in my car in awe that I got in! Once I started the program, I was able to receive an academic scholarship for my grades in the first year. This was an enormous confidence boost for me. I also remember the first convening on the Charlotte campus I went to. Spending time with my cohort and members of the faculty was life-changing. I was a student, but I felt a partnership with the folks there. We were going to go through the process together. Students and colleagues like Dr. Edwina Bowers Dr. Ryan Ivers and others are still supportive friends. Now, we support each other in our professional careers. Professors like Dr. Corliss Thompson, who was the first person I talked to about my problem of practice, and Dr. Cherese Childers McKee, whom I met at the convening and who eventually became my Dissertation Chair, greatly influenced me. Dr. Chris Unger was also at the convening and introduced me to experiential learning and Dr. Kim Nolan reached out to me and became a mentor to me allow my journey. Dean Peg Bernhard l was my Dean my first day and has been like a mother to me ever since. I light up every time I see her because she treated me with such care as a student. When COVID hit, it changed everything for my cohort, and brought hardship, loss, and challenging work environments. I worked at Future of School, a national nonprofit focused on online and blended learning, and we were engaged in helping 200 school districts transition from brick-and-mortar schools to online classroom.
We worked with Ed Tech companies, parents, and community partners to find solutions to the massive impact of COVID on students, especially the most vulnerable. COVID impacted our students at Northeastern , and I was asked to be on a call about how it was harming us mentally. One student shared that she was being told that she was failing a class because she missed some work due to deaths in her family and being sick. She stated she needed help, support and mentoring. I decided to pull some of my colleagues together to create a student organization where graduated students could support each other in the process. We called it the Graduate Student Education Research Association. We also wanted to connect to the broader education doctorate community so we became student members of the American Education Research Association and gain the benefit of their graduate student opportunities such as scholarships, grants, conference opportunities and getting our research published in their newsletter. We got approved as a organization after presenting our vision to the Graduate Student Government and we starting hosting meeting, events and even started a mentorship program. I am proud to say the GSERA is still going strong today and has hundreds of students involved. My classmate and one of the Professors nominated me for the Huntington 100, a prestigious recognition of student leaders at Northeastern, which I did not even know existed, and I was honored to be added to that group in my final year on campus. What a great opportunity. When I was nearing the end of my dissertation stage, I was told I needed the liver transplant. I was told I needed to get it done at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville right away the goal was August for the transplant and I needed to get everything completed by July to graduate.
My Dissertation Chair Dr, Cherese Childers McKee and my second and third readers Drs. Rashid Mosley and Darlene Booth Bell were so supportive. They made me believe I could do both. I also had a crew of colleagues we called ourselves the “Team Lit” (referencing the literature review, one of the hardest parts of the dissertation process) we pushed each other and we all made it through. I can’t thank Drs. Melissa Wrenchey, Arria Coburn, and Edwina Bowers enough. The Northeastern community helps you face the challenges, so you will not fail if you just keep trying. My final opportunity came before my final challenge. My dissertation chair asked me if I would consider coming back to Northeastern as a part-time lecturer/professor at once I got past my liver transplant. I then had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Sara Ewell, who was directing the Ed.D program at the time. Sara is such an amazing person it gave me the confidence to try. I had my transplant at the Mayo Clinic on April 7th, 2022. I started lecturing at Northeastern in August of that same year. Everyone, even the doctors, was amazed at my speedy recovery, but the Northeastern students give me life! Each one has amazing stories of their own and the passion and commitment I see in them to be change agents for social justice and scholar practitioners inspires me to keep going through the ups and downs of the transplant process, including the physical and emotional challenges and the uncertainty of recovery. I made it two years post-transplant and it will be two years at Northeastern in August, and I am living the dream! #Grateful
What advice do you have for others considering higher education, either at Northeastern or elsewhere?
“I would advise anyone who wants to give back to get involved with students. You will never regret it. If you are looking for a place that fosters social justice and experiential learning, the Northeastern Graduate School of Education is the place. The students say the professors create a nurturing environment for success.”
What are some of your hobbies and other passions? Where do you find your joy?
Besides teaching, I write for an educational blog called “Getting Smart” on equity and access, the future workforce, and mentoring. I am also publishing my first book with Kendal Hunt Publishing. I am a DJ and work in the entertainment industry. I serve on Boards like Carolina Crown, a nonprofit performing arts organization, and the Lions Den, an African American Male mentoring organization. I like walking near the water, listening to House Music, traveling, playing the piano and hanging out with my friends and fraternity brothers. My greatest passion is my three grandkids and my family! I can’t get enough of bragging about them and posting pictures of them, and my most significant focus is my relationship with God!