Rate My Professor Abiola Farinde-Wu

Abiola Farinde-Wu is an associate professor of urban education and the chair of the Leadership in Education Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As a Black immigrant woman from Africa and former high school English teacher from Texas, her scholarly work centers on the experiences of teachers and students of color. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, M.A. in Administration from Lamar University, and B.A. in English from Texas A&M University. Joining UMass Boston in 2017 as an assistant professor, she now serves as Graduate Program Director for the Urban Education Leadership and Policy Studies EdD/PhD program, teaching doctoral students and leading the department.

Farinde-Wu's research employs Black indigenous qualitative methods to explore three intersectional lines of inquiry: educational experiences and outcomes of students of color, diversifying the teacher workforce with a focus on Black women educators, and preparing educators for diverse populations. She applies critical theories such as Black feminism and intersectionality to interrogate education policies, pedagogies, and practices in urban contexts. Notable publications include co-editing Black Female Teachers: Diversifying the United States’ Teacher Workforce (Emerald, 2017) and Mentoring While White: Culturally Responsive Practices for Sustaining the Lives of Black College Students (Lexington Books, 2022). Her highly cited articles encompass "Retaining Black Teachers: An Examination of Black Female Teachers’ Intentions to Remain in K-12 Classrooms" (Equity & Excellence in Education, 2016), "It’s Not Hard Work; It’s Heart Work: Strategies of Effective, Award-Winning Culturally Responsive Teachers" (The Urban Review, 2017), "Searching for Satisfaction: Black Female Teachers’ Workplace Climate and Job Satisfaction" (Urban Education, 2018), and "Teach Like a Black Woman: A Trauma-Informed Black Feminist Praxis" (Urban Education, 2025). In 2022, she received the American Educational Research Association Division K Early Career Award for her research on recruiting and retaining Black teachers. Farinde-Wu contributes to the field as an editorial board member for the American Educational Research Journal and Educational Researcher, and as book editor for Urban Education.