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Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, LaShanda Harbin (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Educational Policy Studies program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. LaShanda graduated from Bowdoin College in 2018 with a BA in both African American Studies and Education. After graduating, she mentored and tutored high school students at Westinghouse College Prep on Chicago’s West Side for two years. Her research primarily focuses on ensuring the safety and well-being of low-income Black queer and transgender K-12 students. LaShanda is also interested in exploring how embodying multiple forms of marginalization affects individuals’ actual and perceived sense of safety.  

Awards & Honors

NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship (2025)

UCEA Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar Scholar (2024)

Morgridge Center for Public Service Fellow (2023)

4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative Emerging Scholar Grantee (2022)

Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) Fellow (2021)

Education Graduate Research Scholar (Ed-GRS) (2021)

Ruth J. Simmons Urban Education Policy Scholarship at Brown University (2020)

AERA Annual Meeting Undergraduate Fellow (2018)

Gates Millennium Scholar (2014-present)

QuestBridge National Match Scholar (2013-2018)

Presentations

Harbin, L. (2026, April 10). Reimagining Safety for Black Queer Students: Embracing Intersectionality and the Complexity of Black Queer Existence. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.

Harbin, L. (2026, March 26). Uplifting Black Queer Youth Voices and Dreams in School Safety Discourses. National Academy of Education (NAEd) Spring Retreat, Washington, DC.

Harbin, L. (2025, November 13). Reflections on the Importance of Partner and Community Engagement in CREE. American Evaluation Association (AEA), Kansas City, MO.

Good, A., Hunt, T., Harbin, L., & Symonette, H. (2025, November 12). Intergenerational Spaces for Building Collective Evaluation Competencies. American Evaluation Association (AEA), Kansas City, MO.

Harbin, L. (2025, August 19). An Analysis of Black Queer Student Inclusion in GSA Implementation Guidance (with a focus on Chicago). Internal presentation at Chapin Hall.

Harbin, L. (2025, June 10). Reflections on Wisconsin Center for Education Research GEDI Internship. American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Culmination.

McQuillan, M., Lebovitz, B., & Harbin, L [non-presenter]. (2024, April 11). The Impact of a Protective Federal Ruling for Transgender Students Across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.

Lebovitz, B., McQuillan, M., & Harbin, L [non-presenter]. (2023, November 18). Examining Federal Influence on Local Policy Uptake: Whitaker’s Impact on School Policies Across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA), Minneapolis, MN.

Harbin, L. (2023, April 16). Complicating Narratives: Black Queer Youth’s Complex Experiences Regarding School Safety. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Harbin, L. (2023, April 13). Black Queer Youth’s Visions for Safe Educational Spaces. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

McQuillan, M., Lebovitz, B., & Harbin, L. (2023, April 13). A Title IX Compliance Case Study: Downstream Gender Identity Nondiscrimination and a Federal Court Decision. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Harbin, L. (2023, March 10). ‘Luck’ as a Factor of Access to School Safety. Educational Policy Studies (EPS) Conference, Madison, WI.

McQuillan, M., Lebovitz, B., & Harbin, L. (2022, November 18). Are States Complying with Federal Rulings Concerning Transgender Students?: A Case Study of Whitaker v. Kenosha. University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA), based in Seattle, WA.

Harbin, L. (2022, November 17). Centering Black Queer Students in Discussions about Safety: Creating an Inclusive School Safety Framework. University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA), based in Seattle, WA.

Publications

Harbin, L. (2025). Black Queer youths’ dreams of safer and equitable schools. Black Educology Mixtape “Journal”, 3(1). Retrieved from https://repository.usfca.edu/be/vol3/iss1/13.

McQuillan, M. T., Lebovitz, B. A., & Harbin, L. (2024). The Disruptive Power of Policy Erasure: How State Legislators and School Boards Fail to Take up Trans-affirming Policies While Leaning into Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies. Educational Policy, 38(3), 1-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231218206.