Jesse Ford

Jesse Ford

Associate Professor
Department of Educational Leadership
COED 267

Jesse R. Ford is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

His scholarship examines the historical and sociocultural experiences of Black students and faculty, with particular attention to Black men in higher and graduate education. His broader research program explores graduate student socialization, academic advising, racialized institutional environments, leadership education, and racial battle fatigue. His work has appeared across higher education, student affairs, leadership education, qualitative research journals and edited volumes. His scholarship also extends into applied work focused on improving institutional conditions and educational pathways for Black populations.

Ford currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of African American Males in Education and the Journal of Appreciative Education. He also serves on the Equity in Graduate Education Facilitator Team through the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California and leads the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Early Career Faculty Cohort professional development initiative.

Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, Ford was a tenured faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he founded and directed the Collaborative for Black Men’s Success. He earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Florida State University, an M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina, and a B.A. in History from Coastal Carolina University.

Education

  • Ph.D., Higher Education, Florida State University, 2020
  • Graduate Certificate, Program Evaluation, Florida State University, 2019
  • M.Ed., Higher Education and Student Affairs, University of South Carolina, 2012
  • B.A., History, Coastal Carolina University, 2010

Selected Professional Leadership

  • Facilitator Team Member, Equity in Graduate Education Consortium, Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California, 2026–Present
  • Chair, Early Career Faculty Cohort Professional Development Initiative, Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2026–2027
  • Pre-Conference Co-Chair, Association for the Study of Higher Education – Council for Racial Equity, Praxis, and Presence, 2024
  • Associate Editor, Journal of African American Males in Education, 2026–Present
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Appreciative Education, 2026–Present
  • Founding Director, Collaborative for Black Men’s Success, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2024–2026

Selected Honors and Recognition

  • Emerging Scholar-Designee, ACPA–College Student Educators International, 2025–2027
  • Emerging Scholar, EDU Ledger (Diverse: Issues in Higher Education), 2025
  • Dissertation of the Year, Jon C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values, 2020

Selected Scholarship

Ford has authored and co-authored scholarship addressing doctoral socialization, leadership learning, faculty experiences, and student success. Selected publications include:

  • Ford, J. R., Bacote, T. J., Callan, I. N., White, L. M., Haggins, G. A., Reid, T. T., & Belle, T. T. (2026). Architects of Belonging: Black Doctoral Students in a Shifting Political Era. Youth, 6(3), 114.
  • Spencer Jr, D., & Ford, J. R. (2026). Leadership Forged in Struggle: Higher Education, Black Men and Racial Battle Fatigue. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 63(1), 42-56.
  • Ford, J. R. (2025). “I am overworked and I’m not taking care of myself”: The experiences of Black men in doctoral programs navigating racial battle fatigue. The Journal of Higher Education, 96(4), 485-511.
  • Ford, J. R., Briscoe, K. L., Hamilton Jr, D., & Anderson, A. R. (2024). Negotiating spaces: Interrogating Black men doctoral students’ experiences using Cross and Fhagen-Smith’s Black identity development model. Journal of College Student Development, 65(4), 352-370.
  • Ford, J. R., Matthews, D. Y., Woodard, D. M., & Kepple, C. R. (2023). “Not every advisor is for me, but some are”: Black men’s academic advising experiences during COVID-19. Education Sciences, 13(6), 543.
  • Ford, J. R. (2023). In the trenches: Just trying to make it as black men in early career faculty roles. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(3), 341-355.
  • Ford, J. R., Matthews, D. Y., & Coker, F. A. (2023). Humanizing academic advising: Using culturally responsive approaches to advise students of color. Journal of College Student Development, 64(3), 378-381.
  • Wallace, J. K., & Ford, J. R. (2021). “They don’t value my knowledge”: Interrogating the racialized experiences of Black first-generation doctoral students in HESA programs at HWIs. Journal of First-Generation Student Success, 1(2), 127-144.

Edited Book

  • Beatty, C. C., & Ford, J. R. (Eds.). (2023). Engaging Black men in college through leadership learning. IAP.