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Dr. Donna J. Nicol is currently the Chair of the Africana Studies Department at California State University Dominguez Hills. She joined the faculty at CSUDH as an associate professor in 2017 and was promoted to full professor in 2021. She earned her doctorate degree in Educational Studies (with a specialization in History and Philosophy of Higher Education and a graduate minor in African American and African Studies) from The Ohio State University in 2007. Dr. Nicol was the 2021 recipient of the Faculty Excellence in Service Award at CSU Dominguez Hills.
Dr. Nicol’s research focuses on the history of racism and sexism within U.S. higher education, with a specialization in race and conservative philanthropy and the history of African American women’s educational activism. Her work has been published in Race, Ethnicity and Education, The Feminist Teacher (twice), History of Philanthropy, Palimpsest: A Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International, The Encyclopedia of American Women’s History, Encyclopedia of Multiracial America and an edited volume of Habitus of the Hood. In February 2021, Dr. Nicol was a featured guest expert for the Al Jazeera English documentary, The Big Picture: A Race for America. Dr. Nicol has also published opinion columns for Al Jazeera Digital and has appeared on the Insufferable Academics podcast, the Fresh Off the Vote podcast, and the Peace and Justice Radio Show. She is a sought-after anti-racism and racial equity trainer for governmental, corporate and non-profit organizations. Her book manuscript, Black Woman on Board: Dr. Claudia Hampton, The California State University System and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action, 1974-1994 is under advanced contract with the University of Rochester Press.
Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Nicol spent three years teaching secondary language arts and social studies for Los Angeles Unified School District and seven years in various academic administrative roles at Mt. St. Mary's College and The Ohio State University. Dr. Nicol has previously taught African American History, African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Race in U.S. History, U.S. Women’s History and Women’s Studies at Cal State Fullerton, Mt. St. Mary’s College, Coastline Community College and American Military University. She is a life member of the Association of Black Women’s Historians (ABWH) and member of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS), Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and served on the Program Committee for the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC).
Donna J. Nicol, (Volume 10, Issue 2, November 2021). “Chairing as Self-Care: Strategies for Combating the Cultural Identity Taxation Trap for Black Women Chairs (Special Issue on Black Women Department Chairs Discuss Academic Service, Leadership and Balance) Palimpsest: A Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International.
Donna J. Nicol, “Activism for Profit: America’s Anti-Affirmative Action Industry” Al Jazeera Digital, February 2021.
Donna J. Nicol and Jennifer A. Yee, (April 2019). "On Reclaiming Our Time", University of Illinois Press Blog
Donna J. Nicol and Jennifer A. Yee. 2017. “Reclaiming Our Time: Women of Color Faculty and Radical Self-Care”, Feminist Teacher (Special Issue on Learning to Teach: Women of Color Reflect on Graduate School Pedagogical Praxis). 27, no. 2-3, 133-156.
Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, The California State University and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action, 1974-1994 (Under Contract with The University of Rochester Press)