Engaging in Culturally-Responsive International Research

Meseret F. Hailu (she/her) is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia’s Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education. Her critical mixed methods research, which broadly explores how institutions of higher education retain minoritized women in STEM pathways, has illuminated the raced, gendered, and politicized academic environments for Black immigrant, refugee, and Sub-Saharan women. Most recently, she has traveled to Eastern Africa to conduct a comparative study of gendered engineering laboratory environments with the support of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Meseret received her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver, an M.S. in Biology from Regis University, and a B.S./B.A. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Denver.

Kayla Johnson (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation and Director of Graduate Global Learning Initiatives in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. In her research, she uses visual, student voice, action, and community-engaged methods to explore issues related to learning, development, and social justice in higher and international education. Her recent projects have explored the rural to urban migration experiences of first-generation Indigenous students in the Peruvian Andes, post-Covid Indigenous reimaginings of education in Peru, and culturally-responsive study abroad programming for first-generation students in the US. In 2016, she co-founded Centro Educativo Pallata Ayllu, a non-governmental organization that facilitates access to culturally-grounded and community-driven educational opportunities for Indigenous children and adults in the Peruvian Andes. A former first-generation and low-income student from rural Appalachia, she received a dual-title Ph.D. in Higher Education and Comparative & International Education from the Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Higher Education from the University of Kentucky, and B.A.s in English, French, and Secondary Education from Marshall University.

As women and junior faculty of diverse marginalized backgrounds, Meseret and Kayla bring unique and important perspectives to this workshop. Their personal lived experiences inform their approach to engaging in international research with marginalized communities.