Welcome Dr. Ricky Blissett, Associate Director

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 09:37:55 -0500

We are thrilled to share that Ricky Blissett ’11 (he/they) has joined the Center for Democracy and Civic Life staff team as associate director. In their role, they develop and coordinate Center programs and initiatives, including holistic evaluation and strategic communication.

Ricky has served as a faculty member in educational leadership and policy at the University of Georgia, Seton Hall University, and Vanderbilt University; the coordinator for the Just Education Policy Institute; section chair for the Policy and Politics division of the American Educational Research Association; and principal investigator for the Democracy and Equity in Education Politics research group. They have also conducted and published research exploring citizen, activist, and policymaker ideologies in educational justice, democratic and equitable approaches to evaluation and methodology, and student advocacy and power. They received their Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University, and they are an alumnus of UMBC with a B.S. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. During their time as a UMBC student, Ricky was a participant in the first STRiVE leadership for social impact retreat in 2009, coordinator for an education service organization through the Shriver Center, and active member of UMBC’s Student Government Association both as director of academic affairs and executive vice president.

Outside of their work at UMBC, Ricky volunteers, manages a dog with a lot of opinions about her management, conducts independent research, and collects as many different varieties of mint plants as they can fit in their house.

Please join us in welcoming Ricky to the Center for Democracy and Civic Life staff team. You can reach them by email at rblissett@umbc.edu or by phone at 410-455-3457.