Scholar | Researcher | Educator
“It is not where your dreams take you, it is where you take your dreams.” — Maya Angelou
About Dr. Leah Gaines
Dr. Leah Gaines is a Lecturer of Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where she teaches within the IDS Diversity Studies Track. Additionally, she is proud to lead and organize the program’s study away course.
Before joining UCF, Dr. Gaines was a Perry Williams Postdoctoral Fellow at the College of Wooster. With the fellowship, she was able to instruct multiple courses for the Department of Africana Studies and pilot multiple research projects with undergraduate student research assistants.
As a scholar of African American Studies and Interdisciplinarity, Dr. Gaines has been navigating her work within Africana Studies, Urban Education, Women and Gender Studies, and History.
Education
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PhD
Michigan State University, 2019
African American and African Studies
Concentration in Urban Education
Graduate Certificate in Urban Education
Dissertation: “Being in the Center of the Projects”: Urban Education, Structural Inequities, and Provisional Resistance
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Terah Venzant Chambers
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M.A.
Morgan State University, 2014
African American Studies
Focus in History and African American History
Thesis: Socially, Psychologically, and Therefore Physically Unbeautiful: An Examination of the Early 1900s Black American Female Perception of Beauty
Thesis Chair: Dr. Debra Newman Ham
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B.S.
Towson University, 2011
Psychology
Minor in African American Studies
Advisor: Dr. Lena Ampadu
Research Interests
Dr. Gaines is interested in all lived experiences of African Americans and Africans throughout the Diaspora, both historical and contemporary. This includes, but is not limited to race and identity, Black women and beauty politics, educational experiences, structural inequities, African American Language, and socioeconomic realities of African Americans. She is especially interested in educational opportunities, attainment, and injustices for or against Black education.
Conferences and Invited Talks
Dr. Gaines is a member of multiple professional associations and presents at conferences yearly. Some of her memberships include the American Educational Research Association, National Council for Black Studies, and Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
Study Away
Dr. Gaines is happy to offer her students the opportunity to study away yearly. She also instructs a number of interdisciplinary courses.
Honors, Awards, and Recognition
Dr. Gaines is humbled to be recognized for her research, teaching, work, and service.
Service and Creative Works
Dr. Gaines prides herself on the service that she is able to provide to her students, university, college, program, field, and community.
