Dr. Brandi Hinnant-Crawford 

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford (she/her/hers) is a self-described womanist, liberation theologian, critical pedagogue, improvement scientist, and scholar-activist—but these descriptors are aspirational.  Each description describes someone committed to leaving the world better than she inherited it.  They describe someone striving to dismantle oppressive systems and ameliorate the plight of the marginalized—and that is who she is.  As an Associate Professor of Educational Research at Western Carolina University, Brandi’s work seeks to expose policies and practices related to exploitation and domination—while simultaneously exploring remedies to alleviate the impact of those policies and practices.  Her research agenda has two broad strands that are intimately connected: the first is equity, inclusion and access: which deals with the pedagogy, policies and practices within K-12 schooling.  The second is organizational improvement which examines the effectiveness of improvement and evaluation methodologies and the role of different stakeholders in the realization of improvement. Her recent book, Improvement Science in Education: A Primer, reconceptualizes improvement by centering justice as the purpose of improvement. Brandi holds a doctorate in philosophy from Emory University in Educational Studies, a master’s degree in Urban Education Policy from Brown University, and bachelor’s degrees in English and Communication from North Carolina State University.  She is a native of NC, with roots in Goldsboro.  While she loves research and teaching, her priority is being the mother of her eight-year-old twins, Elizabeth Freedom and Elijah Justice Crawford.