Internationally Celebrated Professor of urban education
Meet Lynnette Mawhinney
Lynnette Mawhinney is an award-winning writer, creator, and long-time educator. Dr. Mawhinney was a former high school English teacher with the School District of Philadelphia and transitioned into teacher education. She has conducted teacher trainings in the U.S., Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa, Bahrain, and Egypt. Dr. Mawhinney is Professor of Urban Education and Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Academic Initiatives at Rutgers University-Newark. As a secret artist, she applies her craft of visual-based approaches to her research and scholarship on the recruitment and retention of teachers of Color. Dr. Mawhinney is the Founder and Director of the Visual Studies in Education Lab (ViSE), a consortium of community members and scholars that aims to amplify community voices, challenge traditional research methods, and foster creativity through the power of visual and arts-based research.
Award-winning Author, Professor, and Advocate
She is the author and editor of five academic books. In 2020, Dr. Mawhinney was the recipient of the American Educational Studies Association’s Critics Choice Book Award for her co-written book, There Has to be a Better Way: Lessons from Former Urban Teachers. Aside from academic books, Dr. Mawhinney is a children’s book author. Her first book, Lulu the One and Only, received an acclaimed starred Kirkus Review, along with awards such as the Notable Social Studies Trade Book Award by the National Council for Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council.
Her new book, Mamie Phipps Clark: Champion for Children, is a biography graphic novel for youth. Dr. Mawhinney is also the Founder and President of Gaen Knowledge, LLC, a consultancy firm that performs traditional and visual-based evaluation and equity audits for organizations (e.g. PreK-12 schools, higher education institutions, and clinical health settings).
