Dr. Tenisha L. Tevis 

Tenisha Tevis is an Associate Professor of Adult and Higher Education in the College of Education at Oregon State University (OSU). She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Theory and Policy Studies with a concentration in Higher Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Her research agenda focuses specifically on minoritized populations’ transition to college, and whether they are disenfranchised by inequitable practices; and the relationship between leadership and identity, to explore how identity influences leadership practices and perhaps contributes to patterns of inequality and exclusion. Ultimately, her work interrogates organizational practices in an effort to promote equity and inclusion widely. 

Tenisha's research agenda is situated within highly regarded outlets that are committed to publishing work that informs change and practice, including but not limited to, The Journal of Higher Education, The Review of Higher Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of Negro Education, The Handbook of Higher Education, and Whiteness and Education. To broaden her readership, and make her work more accessible, she is intentional about publishing in international, practitioner-based, and open-access outlets such as the Journal of Studies in International Education, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), and the Journal of College Access (JCA).  Her recent publications include Considering Both HBCU and PWI Options: Exploring the College Choice Process of First-Year Black Students, From complacency to criticality: Envisioning antiracist leadership among white higher education administrators, and a co-edited book with Zak Foste titled Critical Whiteness Praxis in Higher Education: Considerations for the Pursuit of Racial Justice on Campus. One reviewer of this book detailed how Dr. Tevis and her co-editor “brilliantly unearth the enormity of whiteness and its corresponding consequences on communities of color in higher education.”

Also known as Dr. Awesome, Tenisha has taught and worked in higher education for 20 years, serving in various roles. Her research and prior experience has had an appreciable impact on her teaching, her colleagues and students, and in the field of education more broadly. Tenisha was awarded funding from the Spencer Foundation to be lead investigator to work with high school counselors in California Title I schools. And recently she co-organized the Association for the Study of Higher Education's (ASHE) 2022 Research Workshop Series for the annual conference.  At Oregon State University she was the 2019 Keynote Speaker at the annual Undergraduate Student Success Summit. The same year, she co-led an assessment project to re-evaluate and survey OSU’s transition to college programming. During the Summer of 2020 and 2021, she was invited to co-develop and co-facilitate OSU’s very popular Confronting Whiteness seminar. And she helped found and co-lead the President's Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs, a group that just hosted the 2nd Annual State of Black Affairs Summit. As a result of these efforts, her unwavering service, and commitment both personally and professionally to equity and inclusion, Tenisha was the recipient of the 2021 Frances Dancy Hooks Award, the 2022 OSU Ecampus Excellence in Online Teaching and Student Engagement Award, and the 2022 Outstanding Diversity Advocate Award. Most recently, Tenisha was named one of ten inaugural 2022-23 Research Advancement Academy (RAA) Fellows and received funding to engage in transdisciplinary research.