Venus Evans-Winters, associate professor of educational administration and foundations, received one of the “40 Leaders Under Forty” awards at a celebration in Peoria honoring outstanding young leaders in central Illinois who are under the age of 40.
Evans-Winters teaches and mentors undergraduate and graduate students at Illinois State University. Her research focuses on race, class, and gender issues in educational policy and research. She is the author of several journal articles and book chapters in her area, as well as her book, Teaching Black Girls: Resiliency in Urban Classrooms, a publication she updated and revised in 2011.
Evan-Winters was selected for this distinction for her leadership in community service, women’s empowerment, and educational reform initiatives.
In recent years, she has traveled to several regions of Africa to share her expertise in educational policy and community development. In 2009 the American Educational Studies Research Association selected her as a U.S. ambassador of educational research to South Africa.
Nominations for the “40 Leaders Under 40” award are submitted by the public and reviewed by a panel of judges.
