OCCRL Staff and Affiliates

Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher is Associate Dean of Equity, Justice and Strategic Partnerships for the School of Education and Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Foundations, Organization, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Zamani-Gallaher is also the Executive Director of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges. She's a prior CSCC president in addition, Zamani-Gallaher previously was the Director for Research and Scholarship for ACPA–College Student Educators International. 

From 2015-2022, Dr. Zamani-Gallaher served as Director of the Office for Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) securing 9 million in grants and contracts during this period  which supported over 30 doctoral research assistants and a half dozen master’s and undergraduate assistants. Zamani-Gallaher also was Associate Head of the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership and Associate Dean of the Graduate College during her tenure at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Dr. Zamani-Gallaher’s teaching, research, and consulting activities largely include psychosocial adjustment and transition of marginalized collegians, transfer, access policies, student development and services at community colleges. Her scholarship and leadership have been widely recognized. She is an American Educational Research Association Fellow and was the named the 2022 Diverse Champion of the Year by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Zamani-Gallaher is a former Big Ten Academic Alliance Leadership Fellow, also a recipient of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) Senior Scholar Award; an ACPA–College Student Educators International Diamond Honoree and Senior Scholar. Dr. Zamani-Gallaher received the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Council on Ethnic Participation Mildred B. Garcia Senior Exemplary Scholar Award. Additionally, Dr. Zamani-Gallaher was honored with the Community College Research Award by NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) Transfer Catalyst Award.  

Dr. Zamani-Gallaher’s research has been published in various journals and scholarly texts, including Equity and Excellence in Education, Higher Education Policy, and New Directions for Student Affairs. She is the author/co-author/editor of eight texts including Rethinking LGBTQIA Students and Collegiate Contexts: Identity, Policies, and Campus Climate (Routledge); Working with Students in Community Colleges: Contemporary Strategies for Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice (ACPA/Stylus Publishing); and The Obama Administration and Educational Reform (Emerald Group Publishing). She holds a B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in General Experimental Psychology from Western Illinois University and a PhD in Higher Education Administration with a specialization in Community College Leadership and Educational Evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.