Dr. Mauriell H. Amechi
Social Scientist, Professor, and Foster Care Advocate in VA
Mauriell Amechi, Ph.D., is an avid foster care advocate, social scientist, professor, consultant, and keynote speaker committed to educational equity and improving college outcomes and opportunities for marginalized learners. Dr. Amechi's advocacy and scholarly interests center on educational equity, intersectionality, access, college and career transitions, and persistence to degree completion for underserved student populations. His latest research seeks to influence public policy by documenting the experiences and trajectories of youth and young adults aging out of foster care and the endless roadblocks and disparities they often face in the education sector. 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.
Dr. Amechi's publications appear in 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 (JFYSIT), to name a few. In addition to serving on editorial boards for JFYESIT and the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 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 affiliate faculty at the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Visiting Scholar at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Born and raised in Chicago, the Westside native is a proud alumnus of Chicago Public Schools. Dr. Amechi received his B.A. with honors 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, as an Advanced Opportunity Fellow.
In his free time, he enjoys international travel, music, sports, cycling, mentoring, and performing arts.