LaShawn Faith Washington
Dr. LaShawn Faith Washington earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis with an emphasis in Higher Education in 2023 under the guidance of Dr. Rachelle Winkle-Wagner. Dr. Washington is currently an Assistant Professor of Qualitative Research at the University of Oklahoma – Norman. A Dallas, Texas native, Dr. Washington is a proud first-generation non-traditional student, community college graduate, and a two-time alumna of The University of Texas-Austin receiving an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction – Cultural Studies in Education, and a B.A. in Government (Honors). Her research explores the historical and contemporary inequities in higher education and how issues of race and gender intersect in ways that impact the experience of Black women in academia. Her ethnographic three-paper dissertation entitled: Let Love Lead, utilized Black feminist theorizing through a bell hooksian approach to examine relationships, intersectional identities, and notions of love between Black women collegians and Black women student affairs professionals who were involved in a women’s leadership program at a PWI. She has presented research at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), The National Association for Student Affairs Professionals (NASPA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and The National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE). Her most recent scholarship was published in Teachers College Record.
Her favorite quote: “The academy is not paradise. But learning is the place where paradise can be created” – bell hooks
Please feel free to reach out to her at lfw@ou.edu
Select Publications and Paper Presentations
Johnson, M., Washington, L.F. (2023). Book Review of Critical Race Theory and Social Studies Futures: From the Nightmare of Racial Realism to Dreaming Out Loud (Research and Practice in Social Studies Series). Teachers College Record.
Washington, L.F. (2023, June). “Love as Praxis: hooksian approaches within higher educational spaces.” Paper Session. 2023 bell hooks Symposium. Berea College. Berea, KY.
Washington, L.F. (2023, April). “Why we need to say hooksian: Critiquing theorization practices and introducing a bell hooks framework.” Paper Session. American Education Research Association Annual Conference. Chicago, IL.
Winkle-Wagner, R., Washington, L.F., Wicker, P., Ray, K. (2023, April). “The Space between Healing and Trauma in Qualitative Research: Reflections on Fieldwork with Black Women Faculty.” Paper Session. American Education Research Association Annual Conference. Chicago, IL.
Benson, J., Ray, K., Washington, L. F., Winkle-Wagner, R., Goosby, B., & McCoy, D. (2022, November). “I Gotta Go To Grad School”: Graduate Preparation Programs Affirming Black Women Through the Academy. Research Paper Session. Association for the Study of Higher Education Annual Conference. Las Vegas, NV.
Washington, L.F. (2022, April). Intersectionality is The New Sara Baartman: A historical and theoretical analysis of intersectionality personified. Research Paper Presentation. American Education Research Association Annual Conference. San Diego, CA.
Washington, L.F. & Wicker, P.D. (2020). Practicing diversity issues related to the campus climate: The “Real” Campus Climate. In Winkle-Wagner, R. & Locks, A (Eds.), Diversity and inclusion on campus: Supporting students of color in higher education. (2nd ed., pp. 166-167). Routledge.