Eskender Yousuf Ph.D.
Assistant Professor II
Leadership and Higher Education
About Eskender A. Yousuf
Drawing on racial-equity scholarship and years of community-based work, I investigate the schooling experiences of minoritized students and advocate for culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) practices to create more equitable schooling organizations. I carry this out through two interconnected research strands. The first analyzes how the racial and ethnic identities of academically successful African immigrant and refugee students are shaped by their schooling experiences. This work is situated within a broader body of research on African immigrants’ and refugees’ identity development in the sociopolitical context of race, racism, ethnicity, education, and society in the U.S. and globally. The second strand builds on the CRSL framework to highlight its role in establishing just schools for all students. Taken together, these strands demonstrate the importance of humanizing practices for educators.
Education
- Ph.D., educational policy and leadership, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
- M.A., postsecondary teaching and learning, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
- B.A., communication studies, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Professional Background
- Postdoctoral Associate, Community Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
- Research Associate, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
- Academic Advisor, TRIO McNair Scholars Program, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
- AmeriCorps VISTA
Publications
Yousuf, E. A. & Khalifa, M. (2026). “I want to remember who I am”: Decolonizing urban school leadership through African immigrant youth schooling experiences. Urban Education.
Abdi, N. M., & Yousuf, E. A. (2022). Between suffering and liberation: Complexities of blackness among East African immigrants in Minnesota in the George Floyd moment. Educational Studies, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2022.2033748
Demerath, P., Kemper, S., Yousuf, E., & Banwo, B. (2022). A grounded model of how educators earn students’ trust in a high performing U.S. urban high school. The Urban Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-022-00635-4
Carter, C. Jr., Yousuf, E. A., Banwo, B. O., & Khalifa, M. (2022). Leadership with a purpose: Responding to crises through culturally responsive district leadership. Journal of Family Diversity in Education, 4(2), 115–129.
Yousuf, E. A. (2021). [Review of the book Black immigrants in North America by A. Ibrahim]. Teachers College Record.
Awards and Honors
- Leadership in Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Fellowship Award Winner, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (2022)
- Burkhardt Endowed Fellowship Award Winner, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (2020)