OCCRL Staff and Affiliates

Nina Owolabi

Research Assistant

Nina Owolabi is a doctoral student in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with a concentration in higher education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests center on the Black student experience at community colleges and examining how ableism and racism interact to exclude and marginalize this population. She intends to leverage this work to evaluate and inform institutional practice, effectively crafting welcoming spaces for minoritized students. 

Owolabi's professional background includes a decade of education justice work that is focused on student, program, and curriculum development. Before joining OCCRL, she served as a community college advisor and faculty member.

Education

• Ph.D. student, Education Policy Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• M.A., Sociology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
  
• B.A., Print Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park