Dr. Mauriell H. Amechi

Foster Youth Advocate, Social Scientist, and Professor in VA

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Mauriell Amechi, Ph.D. is a foster care advocate, professor, and social scientist committed to educational equity and improving college outcomes and opportunities for marginalized learners. Amechi's scholarly interests and advocacy center on issues of educational equity, intersectionality, college access, transitions, and persistence to degree completion for underserved student populations. His latest research examines the experiences and educational pathways of transition-age (16 or older) youth and young adults with foster care experience. The National Resource Center on the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, National Association for Campus Activities, and the ACPA Foundation have generously sponsored his scholarship.

Amechi's solo and co-authored publications appear in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, Journal of African American Males in Education, to name a few. In addition to serving on editorial boards for the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice and the Journal of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, he remains active in professional associations, namely the American Educational Research Association, the Association for the Study of Higher Education, NASPA, and ACPA. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois.

Born and raised in Chicago, the Westside native is a proud alumnus of Chicago Public Schools. Amechi received his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and M.A. from Ohio State University. He later earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In his free time, he enjoys international travel, music, sports, exercise, mentoring, and performing arts.

  • Work
    • Old Dominion University
  • Education
    • University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
    • Ohio State University
    • University of Wisconsin-Madison
Testimonial
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
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