Kelisha Graves
Dr. Kelisha B. Graves is an Assistant Professor at Virginia State University, educational leader, interdisciplinary scholar, and author who believes in designing unconventional learning journeys that produce meaningful and transformative outcomes. Her research and professional interests span educational leadership, educational justice, the internationalization of higher education, African American intellectual history, philosophy, religion, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, innovative approaches to teaching and learning, educational futurism, and institutional transformation. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Fayetteville State University.
\Dr. Graves is the author of two books: Africa and America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities: From Shared History to New Opportunities and Nannie Helen Burroughs: A Documentary Portrait of an Early Civil Rights Pioneer, 1900–1959. She previously served as a Higher Education Ambassador with the Council on Foreign Relations Education program and is an individual signatory to the Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations. She has also delivered keynote addresses and lectures to audiences in the United States and internationally, including India, Switzerland, England, and Greece. She teaches courses in history and philosophy of education, school policy and law, teaching in higher ed, and dissertation seminars.
Across her research, teaching, and professional practice, Dr. Graves is committed to advancing future-ready institutions, expanding international engagement, preserving historically significant knowledge, and developing innovative approaches to leadership, learning, and social transformation. At the heart of Dr. Graves’s work is the belief that educational justice means ensuring that every person has equal access to the future.