In 2021, the Flood Center developed the Flood Center Educational Equity Fellowship Program to develop a more representative legislative and policy-making workforce. This fellowship is specifically geared to recruit graduate students who are members of traditionally underrepresented groups in careers related to education and policy.
To create this pipeline, the Flood Center supports each Fellow in their work by providing professional experience through Flood Center policy and programmatic efforts, a monthly stipend, and learning opportunities through the Dudley Flood Center’s Equity Core Network and Equity Education programming. Each Fellow ends the fellowship having developed key professional skills as well as an understanding of the following topics:
- History of educational inequities in North Carolina
- Current education inequalities facing North Carolina schools and districts
- Roles and responsibilities of of the NC General Assembly, State Board of Education, and Local School Boards in Education
Since developing the Flood Educational Equity Fellowship program in 2021, the Flood Center has supported four Equity Fellows who have substantially contributed to the Flood Center’s programmatic and research efforts.
2023-2024 Flood Center Fellow
Kesha Branch Hood
2023-2024 Fellow
I am a lifelong resident of Scotland County, North Carolina, and a proud member of the Lumbee Tribe. I graduated in 1996 with a Teaching Fellows Scholarship to attend UNC-Pembroke. While in college, I worked at the Scotland County Schools District Office as a Data Specialist for Federal Programs and Indian Education and as a Pharmacy Technician at CVS Pharmacy. I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in History with an Elementary Education Certification. After college, I taught second and third grade at Laurel Hill Elementary School. During my eight years of teaching, I completed my National Boards in 2005 and was also the 2005 Teacher of the Year at my school. I received my Master’s in School Administration from UNC-Pembroke in 2007 and served as an assistant principal for four years at the elementary level, two years at the high school level, and one year at middle school. After seven years of being an assistant principal, I served Laurel Hill Elementary as principal for five years and was the Principal of the Year in 2017 – 2018 for Scotland County. Next, I served as principal of Scotland Early College High School for four years and now in my seventeenth year in administration, I am back at Laurel Hill Elementary School as principal. In May 2023, I received my Superintendent’s Licensure from Appalachian State University. I am currently finishing my Educational Specialist Degree (EdS) and Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership at Appalachian State in May 2024.
I am married to Jason Hood who works at INA Baring in Cheraw, SC. We have two sons: Nichalus Williams who is 28 years old and serving in the Army Reserves and Daetyn Williams who is 22 years old and works for Scotland County Schools and Premier Solutions.
Previous Fellows
Dramaine Freeman
Dramaine Freeman is a native of eastern NC and has over twenty years of experience in education, including teaching, tutoring, counseling, and administration. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Computer Technology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. His passion for ensuring that all students have someone in their corner to support them and advocate for their hopes and dreams inspired him to further his education. He obtained a Master’s in Education from the University of Phoenix, followed by a Master’s in Administration and Educational Specialist licenses from Appalachian State University.
He is currently a doctoral student at Appalachian State University because he believes in continual learning and wants to understand educational structures that impact minority students and Black male leadership. He has participated in a New Leaders cohort, a program for assistant principals to learn how to remove barriers to success for underestimated and underserved students and support students in fully realizing their futures as the next generation of great thinkers, innovators, and leaders for our society. As a school administrator, he has planned and implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, math curriculum changes, and cultural shifts at both school and district levels. Throughout his career, he has impacted school outcomes through effective organization, prioritization, and execution of key projects. The learning from New Leaders and school administration and being a part of committees for change continue to inspire him to do the work of positively impacting students’ and families’ lives as they transition through k-12 education.
The Rural Teacher Leader Network: An Analysis from North Carolina
Amber Sansbury
Amber B. Sansbury is a PhD Candidate in Education at George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). She deeply believes in Black young children’s agency in their learning, evolving in asset-rich families, and development during the early childhood years (birth- age 8). Her own research examines the relational goals of African American teachers and African American families and the ways in which these goals support- or hinder- African American preschool children’s racial identity (e.g., parent-teacher relationships and family engagement) across program and home environments. Her work can be found in the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Policy Insights from the Behavioral & Brain Sciences, Handbook on the Science of Early Literacy, Virginia Teacher Educators’ Journal, Researchers Investigating Sociocultural Equity and Race (RISER) Network, and the Educare Learning Network. She brings more than thirteen years of community organizing and policy experience in the implementation of Every Student Succeeds Act provisions on family engagement, high-quality preschool, and Title I school improvement- key areas in the Study Group XVI report on the Leandro ruling. These Dudley priorities contextualize the impact of resegregation on North Carolina’s early care and education and public school systems.”
Historical Barriers to Early Care and Education (ECE): An Analysis from North Carolina
Dre’Sha Singleton
Programs & Policy Fellow
In her role, Dre’Sha supported the research efforts that contributed to serval Flood Center projects, such as the Educational Equity Profiles, set to be released later this year.
Dre’Sha is a doctoral student in the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis program at the College of Education at NC State University. Her research interests include policy narratives in the education policy process, justice in education, and the federal role in education. Dre’Sha has years of experience in Legal Firm Development and Sport & Entertainment Operations. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), a Bachelor’s of Science from Winthrop University, and a Graduate Certificate in Counselor Education from NC State University.
Emma Miller
NC School Desegregation Timeline
In her role, Emma was responsible for developing the NC Desegregation Timeline. This timeline explores the policies, court cases, and important historical events that shaped not only school desegregation in North Carolina, but also the resegregation that has occurred in more recent years.
Emma Miller is a graduate student at Western Carolina University, where she is working towards her Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in secondary social sciences education. Emma is the former School Desegregation Fellow for the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and the former Policy and Programs Intern for the Public School Forum. Emma’s research interests include using the methodology of oral history to capture the voices and the untold stories of the South. Specifically, Emma is interested in studying rural education disparities, the long Civil Rights Movement, and Southern Appalachian history. Emma graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2020 with a double Bachelor’s in Public Policy and American History with a minor in Education. She now lives back in her hometown Sylva in the mountains of western North Carolina, with her fiancé and their two dogs.
