Derrick E. Robinson

Derrick Robinson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Memphis. Prior to his assignment at the University of Memphis, Dr. Robinson served two years as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of South Dakota. Dr. Robinson brings 22 years of public education experience in teaching and leadership. Dr. Robinson has 15 years of K-12 teaching in Social Studies and Business Education and 7 years of K-12 leadership experience in urban schools from Prince George's County MD, Washington D.C., and Charlotte, NC.

Dr. Robinson's research interests explore the contextual nature of school climate and culture, leadership effectiveness, and teacher effectiveness all in urban settings. Dr. Robinson studies the P-20 educational trajectory of urban students. His latest works examines Critical Care Leadership in urban schools, identity development of Black junior faculty, and Leader Mindfulness in public school administrators. Recent evolutions of Dr. Robinson's research interests explore how educational leaders can enact resiliency, cultural responsiveness, and academic optimism to impact instructional experiences of students from pre-school to the doctoral program. As such, teacher effectiveness and identity development from public and higher education has become a focus of Dr. Robinson. Dr. Robinson also explores leader mindfulness, wellness, and care as an aspect of leader effectiveness practices.