Mauriell H. Amechi, Ph.D.

Social Scientist, Policy Expert, and Assistant Dean in Durham, NC

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Dr. Mauriell Amechi, a nationally recognized scholar, professor, policy expert, and advocate, is dedicated to social justice and educational equity. His extensive experience includes serving as a faculty member at Old Dominion University and the University of Redlands. Currently, he holds the position of Assistant Dean at Duke University. Dr. Amechi has made significant contributions to policy-driven research, training educators and researchers entering the field of higher education and student affairs. His research agenda focuses on identifying protective factors and policies that ensure more equitable educational experiences and workforce outcomes for marginalized students, with a particular emphasis on adolescents aging out of foster care. In 2020, Dr. Amechi founded Foster Youth Empowered, an organization committed to eradicating persistent inequities in high school and college completion for underserved adolescents impacted by foster care systems.

Dr. Amechi, a public scholar and thought leader, has shared his expertise with various outlets, including Inside Higher Education, Higher Ed Dive, Imprint News, Civil Eats, the 74, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has been recognized as a top op-ed of 2023 by Imprint News. With extensive training in qualitative methodology, Amechi's academic journal publications center the voices and lived experiences of historically marginalized and underserved populations. His scholarly works have been published in esteemed journals such as the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, Journal of African American Males in Education, and the Journal of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

Beyond his academic contributions, Dr. Amechi has actively engaged in service commitments to the education field. He has served on multiple editorial boards, non-profit boards, and has presented his research at prominent professional associations like the American Educational Research Association, NASPA, ACPA, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Born and raised on Chicago's west side, Dr. Amechi is a proud alumnus of Chicago Public Schools and first-generation college graduate. He holds a B.A. with high honors from the University of Illinois, an M.A. from the Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, sports, cycling, and the performing arts.

  • Work
    • Duke University
  • Education
    • University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
    • Ohio State University
    • University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Testimonials
It was a sincere pleasure working with Dr. Amechi as a contributor to Third Way’s ACADEMIX Upshot policy brief series in June 2020. Dr. Amechi’s report on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on postsecondary students aging out of the foster care system offers tremendous insight for state and federal legislators, and his research and advocacy on behalf of this critical yet often overlooked student population have far-reaching implications for meaningful policy reform.
Michelle Domino, Education Senior Policy Advisor, Third Way
I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Amechi who was the keynote of the California State University Monterey Bay Guardian Scholars - Foster Care Awareness event in May 2019. This was the first time the Guardian Scholars Program hosted a scholar to bring awareness about the obstacles and resilience of foster youth navigating higher education. His research and passion advocating for foster youth in higher education left an imprint on the Guardian Scholars Program and the greater CSUMB community.
Keyiona Ritchey, Guardian Scholars Advisor, Cal State Univ, Monterey Bay
Thank you for planning and hosting this workshop. It was evident that you incorporated our previously discussed goals into your thoughtful planning. I feel that the content was appropriate and relevant to the primary goal of the workshop, which was to prepare our mentors to work with a cohort of interns from diverse backgrounds – most notably, students coming to Duke from an HBCU. I appreciated the use of a variety of media to convey.
Jessica Straehle, Program Coordinator, Duke University
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