Dr. Ann M. Ishimaru (Japanese American Yonsei/she/her) is a researcher, writer, educator, and the Killinger Endowed Chair and Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy at the University of Washington College of Education. Through her community-engaged scholarship, she cultivates the leadership and solidarities of educators and racially minoritized youth, families and communities in pursuit of dignity, justice and wellbeing.
 
Dr. Ishimaru’s body of work unfolds from two key premises. First, leadership plays a crucial role in transforming the longstanding racial injustices reproduced by US public schooling policies, practices and everyday interactions. Second, we arrive at better understandings and solutions to systemic inequities when those directly affected by these problems influence key processes and decisions. Drawing on solidarity-driven codesign methodologies and deep research-community-practice partnerships, Dr. Ishimaru’s scholarship and teaching support leaders and collaboratives in realizing more humanizing educational systems, data literacies, relationalities and futures.

Her peer-reviewed journal articles have been published in top-tier academic journals (such as Educational Administration Quarterly, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Education Policy and more), and supported by the Spencer Foundation, the W.T. Grant Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.