Mission and Purpose

#BlackGirlOnCampus represents Black women and girls as students, staff, administrators, and faculty member in the post-secondary sphere, physically and digitally. This space serves as depository for collaborative efforts to document Black women's narratives in an effort to achieve a transdisciplinary approach to studying Black women. They include, but not limited to, reading lists, timelines, blog posts, webinars, and oral histories. The ultimate goal of the site will be to provide researchers, students, and stake holders within and beyond the academy with an accessible digital space to learn the realities of being a #BlackGirlOnCampus.

Nadrea R. Njoku is the Assistant Vice President and lead researcher at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (FDPRI) of UNCF, where she researches student success and the value proposition of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

In addition to her work with the FDPRI, Dr. Njoku’s research foci include Black women in higher education, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the influence of campus environments on student experiences, and student development theory. She uses critical race and feminist frameworks devoted to disrupting issues of race and gender within postsecondary education contexts.

A graduate of Indiana University's doctoral program in Higher Education and Student Affairs, she is popularly known as a member of IU’s #Great8. Having received her bachelor’s degree from Xavier University of Louisiana, she relates much of her scholarship to her own narrative of growing up and attending an HBCU in the American south.

Nadrea has worked across multiple functions of higher education—housing, student affairs, fraternity and sorority affairs, alumni relations, and evaluation. She is also the co-editor of a special issue of International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education explores the intersections of race and higher education and highlights the work of emerging scholars in the field of student affairs and higher education.

Learn more about Nadrea at nadreanjoku.com

Lori Patton Davis is the Professor of Education; Heyman Endowed Chair; Faculty Director, UCLA Educational Leadership Program. She is best known for her important scholarship on racial and gender equity in education, culture centers on college campuses, girls and women of color in educational and social contexts, and college student development.

Dr. Patton Davis has written extensively about Black women in higher education. She is co-editor of Investing in the Education Success of Black Women and Girls, Critical Perspectives on Black Women in Higher Education and has also co-edited special issues on Black women for the NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education, and the Journal of Negro Education.

Dr. Patton Davis is also lead author of Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice, the most widely adopted book in higher education graduate degree programs. She also is author of over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and other academic publications. 

Serving as an elected member of the ASHE Board of Directors and chair of the ASHE Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award Committee are two significant leadership roles Lori occupied prior to being elected the Association’s president. In addition, she was the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division J Equity and Inclusion Officer for six years. American College Personnel Association (ACPA) members elected her to a two-year term as Director of Equity and Inclusion on the Association’s national governing board. Lori has received many national awards for her scholarly contributions. ASHE presented her its Early Career Award in 2010; ACPA named her a Diamond Honoree, its highest honor, in 2015; and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) presented her its 2016 Robert H. Shaffer Award for Faculty Excellence, to name a few. Also, Indiana University presented her a pair of awards for exemplary teaching in 2015 and 2016.

A frequently sought-after expert on a wide range of education topics, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Huffington Post, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and dozens of other media outlets have quoted Lori and featured her research. She has also advised university presidents and other senior administrators, philanthropic foundation executives, culture center directors, and educators in urban K-12 schools. 

Learn more about Lori by visiting loripattondavis.com

The #HBCUQueen Registry

The #HBCUQueen registry is a data base and ongoing inquiry into the impact and history of campus queens at all historically Black colleges and universities. In an effort to advance the scholarship and importance of HBCU campus queens, participation in this registry will help broaden the narrative of HBCU Queens. One that centers Black homecoming queens as essential participants in institutional culture, student leaders, and designers of a unique performance of Black womanhood. To join the data base or if you know of a campus queen who should participate click here! Please send any inquires to hbcucampusqueenstudy@gmail.com.

About the Primary Investigators:

Nadrea Njoku, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund. She is an experienced student affairs professional and scholar with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Dr. Njoku’s research foci include African American women in higher education, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, gender, and student development theory. She is a proud alumna of Xavier University of Louisiana

Jamila L. Lee-Johnson, Ph.D., is a proud alumna of the Illustrious Clark Atlanta University Class of 2008. After graduation from Clark Atlanta, she then begin her tour of  Big 10 institutions, she received a Masters from Michigan State University (2011) , and a PhD in 2019 from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Dr. Lee-Johnson’s work is centered around the experiences of Black Women in Higher Education (past, present, and future).