About

Joy Gaston Gayles is the Head of the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at NC State and holds the title of Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor. Her role involves leading academic and research initiatives within her department, contributing to the advancement of educational leadership and policy. Her position signifies a focus on educational research and leadership development, although specific details about her research focus, background, or key contributions are not provided in the page text.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Social psychology
• Law
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• History
• Anthropology
• Public relations
• Medicine
• Gender studies

Selected publications

• Critical Qualitative Research and Social Justice

  2025-06-06

  book-chapter

  This introductory chapter frames the entire volume by inviting readers to dialogue with the five of us as we discuss critical and social justice qualitative inquiry concepts and questions, including decolonial, transformative, critical interpretivist, participatory, or related approaches that disrupt dominant paradigms. We encourage readers to respond to the questions and concepts in this chapter (in researcher memos and/or in dialogue with other readers) in the hopes that it will help deepen your own perspectives and scholarly contributions. In addition, we introduce the chapters and chapter authors, including the ways in which the critical and social justice concepts overlap and connect with each other. This chapter and the encyclopedia-like volume are designed to help readers understand and navigate the labyrinthine of critical and social justice concepts available to researchers.

  PublisherDOI

• Humanizing Higher Education: A Path Forward in Uncertain Times

  Review of higher education/˜The œreview of higher education · 2023 · 9 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Sociology

  Humanizing Higher Education was the 2022 conference theme for the Association for the Study of Higher Education. This presidential address takes a forward look back on higher education within a global context and in the aftermath of a global health pandemic, making an argument for the need to humanize higher education. The address offers a definition for dehumanization and discusses manifestations of dehumanization in institutional cultures. The article concludes with a model for humanizing higher education as a path forward in uncertain times.

  PublisherDOI

• Confronting Systems of Privilege and Power in the Classroom

  2023-06-26

  book-chapterSenior author

  The discussion of multicultural competence centers on understanding key concepts such as privilege and power, and how they are used in the classroom setting. This chapter distinguishes between important constructs related to privilege and power followed by a discussion of how they operate in society, including in the classroom, from a theoretical perspective. It then summarizes a study conducted on faculty experiences teaching diversity and focus on power dynamics in the classroom. Unpacking the term imperialism provides a lens through which to describe how power is negotiated and wielded in the classroom. Patriarchy works with imperialism and White supremacy to maintain dominance in society, and faculty can gain power by structuring their class to conform to patriarchy The chapter concludes with practical strategies for dealing with power dynamics and helping individuals recognize and name systems of power and privilege in a way that empowers to interrupt larger systems of oppression.

  PublisherDOI

• Humanizing Approaches to Justice and Wellness

  2023-08-05

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Dr. Gayles shares her journey through the COVID-19 shutdown, how she dealt with the challenges, and how she used what she learned to lead as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Dr. Gayles also shares wisdom on ways to challenge yourself throughout your journey at NC State and beyond.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Retaining Each Other

  2023-08-07 · 1 citations

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Black women undergraduate students face systemic barriers to success within college environments and persist through their efforts to support and retain themselves and each other. This chapter highlights the experiences of high-achieving undergraduate Black women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at a predominantly white institution using community cultural wealth as a critical lens. This chapter concludes with three lessons for institutional leaders to support and retain Black women in higher education. Embedded within the three lessons are examples of how Black women created supportive peer mentoring communities for themselves and others, with implications for Black women graduate students and faculty.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Doing the Right Something: A Grounded Theory Approach to Understanding Advocacy and Allyship Among College Students

  Journal of college student development · 2022 · 6 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Social psychology
  • Psychology

  The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory using a grounded theory approach to describe the development of advocacy and ally-ship among college students with marginalized identities. Findings support that participation in advocacy and allyship is a continuously evolving and messy process of becoming aware, educating self, exploring beliefs, feeling connected, experiencing affirmation, and navigating viewpoints, which all underscore the core category: Doing the Right Something.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Racism, and White Supremacy

  Culture Studies &#x2194 Critical Methodologies · 2021 · 35 citations

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Social Science

  We explore “ Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Racism, and White Supremacy” to engage scholars in thinking about and reflecting on what it means to conduct qualitative research from a standpoint that honors Black lives in the research process while also disrupting racism and white supremacy. First, we unapologetically take up topics including engaging “diversity” in qualitative research, interrogating the etic perspective in the “new” focus on race, using critical perspectives to inform research and practice, examining the racialization of positionality, focusing on Black women educational leaders, and engaging schools and communities. Next, we engage in dialogue with each other to push ourselves—and you/the reader—to think more deeply about the serious and potentially dangerous implications of our research decisions. Given the unprecedented historical present we are all experiencing in our lifetime, we are committed to shifting the landscape of qualitative research as well as using research to shift our sociopolitical context toward racial equity and justice.

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring Rural Engineering Students’ College-Choice Process at Two Land-Grant Universities

  The Rural Educator · 2021-11-17 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This qualitative case study examines the college choice decisions of rural students enrolled in engineering majors to understand what conditions and experiences led rural students to pursue engineering at their institution. We found four themes that help illuminate rural engineering students’ college choice journeys (1) The Inextricable Nature of College, Major, and Career Choice (2) “The Smart Person Thing to Do:” The Power of Prestige, (3) “Are You Sure You Don’t Want to Change your Major?” Dissonance Between Aspirations and Expectations, and (4) School and Community as Crucial Resources in College and Major Exploration. These findings have implications for those working with rural high school students seeking engineering degrees and admissions processes at four-year colleges and universities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring Possibilities for Early Career Faculty Success: The Power of Support Structures, Community, and Accountability

  Proceedings of the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting · 2020-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mentoring for Success across the Academic Spectrum

  2020-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Frimpomaa Daagye Ampaw

  Morgan State University

  11 shared

• Bridget Turner Kelly

  6 shared

• Shouping Hu

  Florida State University

  5 shared

• Alyssa Bryant Rockenbach

  North Carolina State University

  4 shared

• Rebecca E. Crandall

  Oregon State University

  4 shared

• Heather A. Davis

  Virginia Tech

  3 shared

• Katie N. Smith

  National Institutes of Health

  3 shared

• Shauna M. Morin

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Education Policy

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2005

• M.A., Education Policy

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2000

• B.A., Political Science

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1997

Awards & honors

• Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor
• President, Association for the Study of Higher Education (AS…
• 2020 Chancellor’s Creating Community Award for Outstanding F…
• 2018 University Faculty Scholar at NC State
• Zenobia L. Hikes Woman of Color in the Academy Award