Name: Wilson Okello
Title: Assistant Professor of Education (Higher Education)
Department: Education Policy Studies
Phone: 814-863-3766
Email: wko5030@psu.edu
Office address: 405D Rackley Building
Directory entry: https://ed.psu.edu/directory/dr-wilson-okello
Wilson Okello is an accomplished, early-career artist-scholar who draws on Black critical theories to advance research on student development theory, critical qualitative inquiry and anti-racist curriculum and pedagogies, among others. He joins the Penn State College of Education as assistant professor of education (higher education) in the Department of Education Policy Studies.
Okello joins Penn State from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he was assistant professor of higher education in the Watson College of Education; he also was a faculty affiliate in Africana Studies. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University, his master’s from the University of Rhode Island and his doctorate from Miami University in Ohio.
Okello is co-editor of “Trauma-informed Practice in Student Affairs: Multidimensional Considerations for Care, Healing and Wellbeing,” a New Directions for Student Services volume (Wiley Press), and author of a forthcoming text with SUNY Press that explores the potential of centering Blackness in student development theory.
Among other early career awards, he was named a 2022 Emerging Scholar by the American College Personnel Association. Several years ago, he gave a powerful TEDx Talk titled "Resilience in the Face of Injustice.”
“As someone who believes in the power of coalitions and meaningful partnerships, (Penn State’s) College of Education — faculty and students alike — has an assembly of talented and creative minds that can support schools, institutions and communities in bringing into view equitable educational opportunities and outcomes,” Okello said.