Dr. LaDonna Young is a champion for educational equity and justice with over 25 years of experience in higher education. Currently serving as director of educational effectiveness at The Chicago School, she leads academic program review, accreditation, and institutional effectiveness efforts, transforming data into powerful narratives that drive continuous improvement.
A veteran of the community college sector, Dr. Young spent more than two decades at Southwest Tennessee Community College (Memphis). As the founding dean of humanities, social sciences, and mathematics, she launched the Office of High Impact Practices and Innovation and the Gatekeeper Faculty Fellowship. Her leadership in scaling corequisite education and closing equity gaps in gateway courses was instrumental in the college earning Achieving the Dream Leader College status and the prestigious 2021 Bellwether Award.
Prior to her current role, she served as senior director at the University of Virginia’s Motivate Lab, where she provided strategic leadership for equity-centered initiatives grounded in motivation research, growth mindset, and a sense of belonging, while advancing evidence-based instructional practices for corequisite education across four of the nation’s largest community college systems.
As an Achieving the Dream coach, she finds joy in supporting institutional transformation nationwide, leveraging data to drive systemic change, and designing learning contexts that affirm students’ genius, culture, and humanity — guided by her conviction that “we all do better when we all do better.”
A proud Alabama native (Roll Tide!), Dr. Young holds a B.A. from Christian Brothers University and an Ed.D. in higher and adult education from the University of Memphis.
Education:
- Ed.D. (Higher and Adult Education) | University of Memphis
- M.A. (Teaching, Secondary Education) | University of Memphis
- B.A. (History / Pre-Law) | Christian Brothers University
Past Experience:
- Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships & Equity Initiatives | University of Virginia – Motivate Lab
- Dean, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Mathematics | Southwest Tennessee Community College