EPOL Department - Student Spotlight

Armando is a popular educator, researcher, and community mobilizer with 15 years of experience working in community with local and international CBO’s, scholars and community mobilizers to transform education in Brazil, Mexico, and beyond. He is a multilingual researcher and TA teaching social justice, globalization, and digital equity where he is regularly recognized as a "Teacher Ranked as Excellent" by students.  

His research engages communities in problem-solving and justice-oriented transdisciplinary research to critically examine the effects of digital development on culture, education, and sustainability in Brazilian Favelas and the World. Armando's work aims to strengthen networks of community mobilizers among Global Majority countries to transform sustainable development paradigms for the flourishment of people and planet.

Education Background:

Ph.D. Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2026 (Expected)

M.Ed. Postsecondary Administration & Student Affairs, University of Southern California, 2016

B.A. Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012

Israt Z Nipa is a student in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership with a concentration in Global Studies in Education. She has more than 5 years of teaching experience at schools and universities. She worked as a lecturer at a university back in Bangladesh and taught undergrad students. Her research interests lie in the international students' experiences, internationalization of higher education, and equity in girl's education. 

• Advisor: Dr. Rebecca Taylor 
• Expected Year of Graduation: 2027 
• Educational Background: 
• Ph.D. Student, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Concentration: Global Studies in Education 
• M.A. in English Literature, Premier University
• B.A. in English Literature, Premier University

Aigul Rakisheva is a doctoral student in the Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership Department, with a concentration in Global Studies in Education. Her research interests include initial teacher education focusing on Information and Communication Technologies and Virtual Exchange, the rural and urban gap in education, gender equality in higher education, and international/comparative research. Aigul utilizes mixed methods and art-based methods in her research approach.

• Advisor: Dr. Allison Witt 
• Expected Year of Graduation: 2027 
• Educational Background: 
• Ph.D. student, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Concentration: Global Studies in Education 
• M.Sc. Educational Leadership: Higher Education, Nazarbayev University 
• M.Sc. in Geography, Pavlodar State University 
• B.Sc. in Geography, Pavlodar State University 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aigul-rakisheva/

Yaning Cao is a doctoral student in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership. Her concentration is Global Studies and her research is in international higher education collaboration. Her work experience in a one joint-venture university in China leads her to consider efficient ways for higher education institutes to collaborate and in what ways education policy can benefit students to become global citizens in the future.

Program of Study, Research Interests & Professional Profile:

Kelsey Knutson is a doctoral student of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, concentrating in Global Education and Diversity and Equity at the University of Illinois. Kelsey's continued research and studies center on inequities in access to digital learning, teacher-student relationships and the intersections of race, sexuality, and gender, grading bias in multicultural and multiracial classrooms, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and sustainable international education policy. Kelsey has recently entered the world of education consulting and is in a 6-month doctoral internship for the education sector of the U.N., specifically the Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems and Teacher Development departments, at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris. Kelsey is a full-time social studies teacher, D.E.I. facilitator and coordinator, and newly appointed travel and foreign exchange director in Phoenix.

Advisor: Dr. Hyun-Sook Kang

Expected Graduation: 2025

Academic Background:

• Ed.D., (In-progress) Global Studies; Diversity & Equity, in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
• M.Ed., Education, Arizona State University, 2016
• B.A., Global Studies: Human Rights & Justice; Spanish, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, 2013

LinkedIn: /kelseyknutson or Kelsey W. Knutson's LinkedIn

Paapa Nkrumah-Ababio is a doctoral student in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with a double concentration in Global Studies in Education and Social Science and Education Policy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Paapa's research interest lay in the intersections of education and national development in African countries centered around literacy, citizenship, human development, and educational funding issues using quantitative research methods. Paapa is an international student from Accra, Ghana and is driven in his doctoral journey by the desire to bring a world-class education to the doorstep of every African child.

Advisor: Dr. Rebecca Hinze-Pifer

Expected Graduation: 2025

Academic Background:

Ph.D. student, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana Champaign

M.S. Ed., Higher Education and Student Affairs, Baylor University, Texas

B.S., Petroleum Engineering, Marietta College, Ohio

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paapa-nkrumahababio

Hanna Kim is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a concentration in Global Studies in Education (GSE). Her research interests lie in a sense of belonging and identity development among Asian international graduate students at US universities as well as Asian American history education. She has worked for the College of Education’s International Program, the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (CEAPS), as well as the Global Leaders Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She currently serves as a research assistant for the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) project. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D. program, she worked for World Vision Korea (NGO) as a broadcast filing coordinator and studied for her master's in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Mississippi. She hopes to contribute to creating a welcoming climate in academic communities where all students feel they belong to the department and university. 

Advisor: Dr. Yoon Pak

Anticipated Graduation: 2026 

Academic Background: 

Ph.D. Student, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  

      Concentration: Global Studies in Education 

M.A., Modern Languages with a concentration on Applied Linguistics and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Mississippi 

B.A., International Cultural Studies with Education in Early Childhood Education, Soonchunhang University 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hanna-kim-487ba81b0 

Additional Resources:

CV