Webster Doctor of Education Program Presents at AERA 2024

Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, from left, Jennifer Ono, Tamara Rodney, and Kerri Fair at the Annual American Educational Research Association convention.

Webster University’s Doctor of Education (EdD) program presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2024 Annual Convention. The convention took place April 11-14 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. AERA is the largest convening of educational researchers and only top-quality proposals are accepted due to the rigorous peer-review process. This year’s keynote speech was given by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a renowned scholar in intersectionality and critical race theory. 
 
Director of Webster’s (EdD) program, Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, PhD, along with recent graduates Kerri Fair, EdD, and Jennifer Ono, EdD, and doctoral candidate Tamara Rodney, co-presented and facilitated an interactive workshop titled, "Interweaving Intersectional Biographical Vignettes into Qualitative Research as Reflexivity Tools." The 90-minute workshop advocated for qualitative researchers to write intersectional biographical vignettes and incorporate them into their studies as reflexivity tools. The workshop was well received as participants constructed their own intersectional biographical vignettes and shared collective ideas regarding the transformative emancipatory power of these vignettes.  

Tamara Rodney, from left, Kerri Fair, Jennifer Ono, and Yin Lam Lee-Johnson.

Lee-Johnson co-presented with Juana M. Reyes, EdD (first author) from Lewis University; Gigi Schroeder Yu, PhD, from the University of New Mexico; and Brenda Fyfe, EdD, professor and dean emeritus of the School of Education at Webster University. They presented at a symposium called "Confronting the Raciolinguistic Injustices Recycled in Early Childhood Spaces: Advocating with a Feminist-Abolitionist Approach." The 90-minute symposium proposed a new feminist-abolitionist frame for early childhood and multilingual educational researchers to confront raciolinguistic injustices that exist in educational milieus. The symposium attracted many attendees who were scholar-practitioners in early childhood and multilingual education. It provoked thoughtful questions and conversations among those who attended. 

Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, from left, Juana M. Reyes and Gigi Schroeder Yu.
   
Lee-Johnson was also part of a panel hosted by AERA’s Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans (REAPA) special interest group’s business meeting. The panel, titled "The Art of Mentoring," invited three scholars to share their professional experiences regarding the importance of mentorship. The panel was well received and generated inspiring questions and discussions. Lee-Johnson was one of the conference program co-chairs of the REAPA special interest group.  
  
The EdD program at Webster University has an ethos of transforming the status quo for minoritized populations. The program is admitting new students for Fall 2024. Those who are interested in applying can contact Natasha McCallister at nmccallister@webster.edu or contact Lee-Johnson at yleejohnson31@webster.edu for more information about the program.  
  
Learn more about AERA 2024.