Leigh Patel is a writer, educator, and cultural worker. Her work is based in the knowledge that as long as oppression has existed so have freedom struggles. She is a community-based researcher as well as an eldercare provider. Professor Patel is a Professor of Education at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, where she also served as the inaugural dean for equity and justice. She is also an elected member of the National Academy of Education.
Prior to being employed as a professor, she was a middle school language arts teacher, a journalist, and a state-level policymaker. She is also a proud national board member of Education for Liberation, a nonprofit that focuses on supporting low-income people, particularly youth of color, to understand and challenge the injustices their communities face.
Her latest book, There is No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education, from Beacon Press contends with the distinct yet deeply connected forms of oppression while also shedding light on the crucial history of political education for social transformation. Her walk-on song is “Can I Kick It” by A Tribe Called Quest.
Warm Regards,
SARINA CHUGANI MOLINA, EDD (she/her)
Associate Dean, School of Leadership and Education Sciences
Associate Professor, Department of Learning and Teaching
Mother Rosarie Hill Hall, School of Leadership and Education Sciences
Room 205E
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 260-7819
sarina@sandiego.edu
www.sandiego.edu/soles/