Mauriell H. Amechi, Ph.D.
Social Scientist, Policy Expert, and Assistant Dean in Durham, NC
Dr. Mauriell Amechi is a higher education strategist, professor, and advocate committed to advancing educational equity for students navigating systemic barriers. With over a decade of progressive leadership across academic affairs, policy research, and student success initiatives, he brings a collaborative, data-informed approach to helping higher ed leaders and policymakers turn struggling students into graduates by identifying what's broken and building equity-minded solutions that stick.
Dr. Amechi's scholarship on educational equity, access, transitions to college, retention, and Community Cultural Wealth informs his leadership practice. One overarching question continues to guide his work: How do we build institutions that not only admit diverse students but also ensure they thrive holistically and become meaningfully engaged community members? This pressing question has guided his work across multiple contexts—from redesigning advising systems and living-learning communities to shaping federal policy through applied research and producing cutting-edge empirical research.
In 2025, Dr. Amechi joined Duke University as Assistant Dean for Inclusive Excellence, where he provided strategic leadership for initiatives that strengthened student engagement, promoted equity, and fostered inclusive organizational cultures. His work demonstrates a consistent pattern: identifying systemic gaps through data analysis, building coalitions across stakeholder groups, and advancing evidence-based interventions that deliver measurable outcomes. As Assistant Dean at Duke, he increased student engagement by 80%, redesigning broken systems. Similarly, at the University of Minnesota, he led a living-learning community serving college men of color that achieved 100% first-year retention and the highest GPA in program history.
Beyond campus leadership, Dr. Amechi has influenced education policy at scale. His national policy report on COVID-19's impact on foster youth informed federal legislation extending critical supports to nearly 900,000 youth and young adults. As a Senior Policy Analyst at New America, he led applied research projects that shaped state and federal education policy and a collective impact initiative across six community colleges. His work has appeared in outlets including Inside Higher Education, Higher Ed Dive, Imprint News, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, with one piece recognized as one of the top op-eds of 2023.
In 2020, Dr. Amechi founded Foster Youth Empowered, an organization that aims to close persistent inequities in high school and college completion for underserved adolescents impacted by foster care systems by providing engaging keynotes and independent living skills workshops.
A first-generation college graduate from Chicago's west side and proud alumnus of Chicago Public Schools, Dr. Amechi brings both personal insight and professional rigor to challenges facing underserved students. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. from The Ohio State University, and a B.A. with high honors from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, sports, cycling, nature walks, and the performing arts.