Dr. Kevin Lawrence Henry, Jr.
Tenured: Yes
Age: 36
Education: B.A., Political Science, Tulane University; Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Career mentors: Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dr. Carl Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dr. Maisha Winn, Stanford University; Dr. Michael Cunningham, Tulane University; Dr. Nghana Lewis, Tulane University; Dr. Colleen Capper, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Words of wisdom/advice for new faculty: “Run your race and remember your ‘why.’ Remember why you got into this.”
Dr. Kevin Lawrence Henry, Jr., a recently tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Leadership and Policy Analysis, exemplifies how personal experience can shape academic pursuits and social justice advocacy.
Growing up in New Orleans as a “Katrina baby,” Henry witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of the hurricane on his community, particularly in education where Black teachers were dismissed en masse—what he describes as “one of the largest displacements of Black educators since Brown vs Board of Education.”
Initially planning to become a civil rights attorney, Henry’s path took an unexpected turn during his undergraduate years at Tulane University. As a pre-service teacher taking education courses, he encountered the scholarly work of Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, which helped him make sense of the disconnect between his teacher training and the lived experiences of Black students, including his own. This intellectual awakening led him to pursue a career in education rather than law, though he maintains that he “accidentally fell into the academy.”
His journey to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he would eventually become both student and professor, was equally serendipitous. As an undergraduate, Henry applied to a summer research opportunity program, writing his application essay about culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory from his dorm room, unaware that Ladson-Billings herself was at Wisconsin. When he was accepted and assigned Ladson-Billings as his mentor, it proved to be “a match made in heaven.” The experience profoundly influenced his decision to pursue his PhD at Wisconsin, where he found an intellectual home that allowed him to explore questions about policy, charter schools, race, and school reform.
After completing his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction in 2016, Henry joined the faculty at the University of Arizona, where his understanding of race in America was enriched by exposure to border state dynamics and the intersection of Black, Indigenous, and Mexican communities. His time in Arizona coincided with significant debates over ethnic studies in education, providing him with firsthand experience of educational activism and resistance.
