Faculty & Staff Directory
Abiola Farinde
Title: Grad Prog Dir/Asst Professor
Email: Abiola.Farinde@umb.edu
Department: Leadership in Education
Degrees
PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Degrees
PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Additional Information
Abiola Farinde-Wu is an assistant professor and the graduate program director of the Urban Education, Leadership, and Policy Studies Program in the Department of Leadership in Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In her previous position, she was a visiting assistant professor in the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh.
Her scholarship explores the experiences of teachers and students of color. She is interested in policy and practice research questions lying at the nexus of the school experiences of students of color and their educational and life outcomes. Highlighting how racial, social, and cultural issues impact equitable educational opportunities and treatment of marginalized groups, she draws from critical theories, such as Black feminism and intersectionality to interrogate education policies, pedagogies, structures, and practices in urban schools, communities, and contexts. To this end, she engages in four social-justice lines of inquiry: (1) the educational experiences and outcomes of students of color; (2) diversifying the U.S. teacher workforce, with particular emphasis on Black women educators; (3) the preparation of preservice and in-service educators for diverse populations; and (4) educational policy and practice. She has authored and co-authored numerous studies published in journals, such as the Urban Education, Theory into Practice, and Teachers College Record. Additionally, she is the coeditor of Black Female Teachers: Diversifying the United States’ Teacher Workforce (Emerald, 2017), and Mentoring While White: Culturally Responsive Practices for Sustaining the Lives of Black College Students (Lexington Books, 2022).
Dr. Farinde-Wu is a recipient of the Early Career Award from AERA (Division-K). Her professional activities include serving as an assistant editor for the Journal of Teacher Education, and an editorial board member of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) and Educational Researcher. She is also an affiliated faculty member in The Urban Education Collaborative. She can be reached at abiola.farinde@umb.edu.