Tara Nkrumah

Assistant Professor, MLF Teachers College

1050 S. Forest Mall Tempe, AZ 85281
Mail code: 5411

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Tara Nkrumah is an assistant professor in the division of teacher preparation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Her research on equitable teaching practices for anti-oppressive discourse in education and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) uses the theatre of the oppressed to explore culturally relevant/responsive leadership and pedagogy.

Nkrumah joined ASU in 2019 as a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology where she conducted culturally relevant and responsive professional development for the flagship CompuGirls programs focused on transforming the STEM education culture to be inclusive of underrepresented groups, in general, and girls and women of color, in particular. Nkrumah has extensive teaching experience in the United States where in 2018 she was awarded the Diversity Educator of the Year at the eighth-largest school district in the nation at that time. From 2007 to 2014, she engaged with culturally and linguistically diverse learners in Ghana, West Africa.

Education

Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
M.ED. Curriculum and Instruction, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
B.S. Environmental Science, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

Curriculum Vitae

Video

Google Scholar URL

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C3&q=tara%20nkrumah&btnG=

Research Interests

My research agenda focuses on engagement in science education and preparing the next generation of science learners/educators to study and enter careers in science as well other fields that comprise the interdisciplinary engagements among Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Agriculture, Math or Medicine or (STEAAMM). I am particularly interested in how approaches such as multicultural education, culturally sustaining pedagogy, critical pedagogy, and social justice supports educational leadership and reform efforts to enhance learning in the sciences among minoritized students and others historically underrepresented in particular fields of study and practice. Building on my teaching and research experience using arts-based methods (forum theatre, image theatre, jokering), case study (descriptive), and narrative inquiry (auto-ethnography, métissage), I examine the social, cultural, political issues concerning engagement and disengagement in science education.

Publications

Nkrumah, T. (2023). The Inequities Embedded in Measures of Engagement in Science Education for African American Learners from a Culturally Relevant Science Pedagogy Lens. Education Sciences, 19(7), 739

Nkrumah, T., & Scott, K. A. (2022). Mentoring in STEM higher education: a synthesis of the literature to (re) present the excluded women of color. International Journal of STEM Education, 9(1), 1-23.

Nkrumah, T., Mutegi, J. (2022). Exploring racial equity in the science education journal review process. Science Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21719

Morton, T. R., & Nkrumah, T. (2021). A day of reckoning for the white academy: reframing success for African American women in STEM. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1-10.

Courses

2023 Fall

Course Number	Course Title
TEL 212	Understand/Culturally Diverse

2022 Fall

Course Number	Course Title
TEL 212	Understand/Culturally Diverse

2021 Summer

Course Number	Course Title
SST 590	Reading and Conference

Honors / Awards

2019 NSF Research Fellowship Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

2019 University of South Florida Walter and Lillian Berbecker Scholarship

2018 University of South Florida Walter and Lillian Berbecker Scholarship

2017 Diversity Educator of the Year, Hillsborough County School District

2017 Jhumki Basu Scholar, National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST)

2016/2017/2018 Hillsborough County School District Highly Effective Teacher Status multiple years

2015/2016/2017 University of South Florida Scholars of Excellence Honoree multiple years

2015 University of South Florida Graduate Student Success (GSS) Fellowship Recipient

Master Teacher Status (Dallas Independent School District)

Professional Associations

Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE)

Ethics & Equity (NARST) Committee Member

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (PTO)

Sisters of the Academy (SOTA)

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA)

Curriculum and Pedagogy Group (C&P)

NARST A worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through

Research

Work History

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology at ASU 2019 - present

Science Area Leader, Instructional Coach, Science Teacher. Greco Middle School, Tampa, Florida, 2014-2019

Science Teacher, Curriculum Writer. Lincoln Community School, Accra, Ghana, 2007-2014

Science Head of Department, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, Dallas, Texas, 1999-2007

Service

Reviewer: AERA SIG - Critical Issues in Curriculum and Cultural Studies

Reviewer: Association for Science Teacher Education - Equity and Diversity

Reviewer: NARST

Chair/Discussant: AERA

Member: Central Arizona Phoenix (CAP) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Expertise Areas

Critical Cultural Studies

Education Leadership and Policy

Engagement

Qualitative Methods

Science Education

Teaching and Teacher Education