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This August, Brandi Hinnant-Crawford will join the College of Education and Allied Professions faculty as the John and Deborah Bardo Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership. Her return is a homecoming that continues a nearly decade-long tenure as a Catamount and more than 12-year career as a researcher and professor.

Hinnant-Crawford specializes in teaching educators how to understand the systems and limitations governing their institutions. Master鈥檚 and doctoral students learn to conduct research and operate pragmatically to lead change within their operations and better serve their students.

"Dr. Hinnant-Crawford is a leading national scholar in improvement science, one of our Ed.D. program鈥檚 signature pedagogies,鈥� wrote Kim Winter, dean of the CEAP. 鈥淪he is a dynamic and engaging teacher who will be able to positively support our doctoral students. Dr. Hinnant-Crawford鈥檚 experiences in educational leadership at the state and national levels, in addition to her passion for policy-to-practice articulation (e.g., work that leads to action) are invaluable assets to our college and this university.鈥�

Over the course of her career, Hinnant-Crawford has chaired dozens of academic committees, including 35 dissertation committees, 10 of which were 蘑菇短视频disquisition committees. She has published six books, including 鈥淚mprovement Science in Education: A Primer,鈥� which was awarded the 2026 Gloria J. Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book Award from the American Associate of Colleges for Teacher Education. She was also selected as a keynote speaker for the 2024 Improvement Conference, the largest meeting of education leaders of its kind in the country.

Hinnant-Crawford described feeling blessed to share the title of distinguished professor with longtime colleague and mentor Kofi Lomotey, whose uplifting attitude inspired her style as an educator. In the years to come, she expressed hopes to grow WCU鈥檚 leadership programs and regional impact with the same inspired spirit as Bardo, sharing epiphanies and cultivating sparks in the classroom and beyond.  

鈥淢y favorite part of teaching is when you help your students recognize their own power,鈥� Hinnant-Crawford said.

鈥淪ometimes people feel like they are so bogged down in systems that all they can really do is comply and go about business as usual. But when they start to pull the scales from their eyes and recognize that they can really be a change agent or a catalyst for justice or liberation in the organizations they're in 鈥� that's my favorite part.

鈥淏ecause the teaching is not just for me or for the student,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose moments of realization are going to impact so many other people, particularly the young people they serve and the communities they serve.鈥�