Dr. Shenika Hankerson is an Assistant Professor of Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland-College Park. Her research centers on issues of language, equity, and social justice, particularly, in relation to the writing of African American Language (AAL)-speaking students. Dr. Hankerson’s current empirical, participatory, action research project focuses on how critical language awareness instructional practices can be implemented in secondary and postsecondary English classrooms to promote equitable experiences and outcomes for racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students such as AAL-speaking students.
Her other research interest includes documenting and making public Black women's rhetoric of survival, citizenship, and liberation within and across a variety of understudied community settings.
Dr. Hankerson brings a breadth of knowledge and experiences to her research, including several years of experience working as an English educator and language activist in racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse K-20 and community settings. Her scholarship has been recognized with awards from the National Council of Teachers of English and the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and she has published or forthcoming work in Language Arts Journal of Michigan, AGEP Science Today Bulletin, and Talking Back: Senior Scholars Deliberate the Past, Present, and Future of Writing Studies.
Dr. Hankerson is the Principal Investigator and Director of RISE: Research Institute for Scholars in Education. RISE, funded through a $1.1 million grant from the US Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES), is designed to increase diversity in education research by preparing underrepresented undergraduates from the University of Maryland, College Park and Bowie State University with research and career development training in language and literacy. The overall aim of RISE is to increase diversity in the pool of individuals who pursue doctoral studies in a broad range of fields related to language and literacy.
For more information on RISE, visit: https://education.umd.edu/academics/departments/chse/research/project-rise
