Dr. M. Cookie Newsom holds a BS in Education, a MA in History and a Ph D in Educational Leadership. Her dissertation addressed the achievement gap and was titled “Lessons in Black and White: White teacher questioning practices of black and white students.” She taught high school for 18 years, leaving for a job in higher education. She served as the Director of Student Retention at Clark State College before transitioning to faculty where she was eventually elected chair. She was a research fellow at the Library of Congress for 2002-2003 in the “Cities and Public Spaces in Cultural Context” seminar. She is a certified diversity trainer and consultant, NCBI certified and a graduate of the National Institute for Leadership Development. Dr. Newsom has made presentations at many national conferences including American Education Research Association, Mid-west Education Research Association, Patterson Research Conference, North Carolina Association of Financial Aid Administrators and American Council on Education. She currently serves as the Director of Diversity Education and Assessment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Newsom had been married for 40 years, (Wayne) and has four children (Mike, Chris and Nikki), four grandchildren (Marrisa, Julian, Ella and Sam) and two cats ( Agatha Christie and Bucky). She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, UNC’s Faculty and Professional Women Association, UNC’s Leadership Institute Board, School of Nursing Multicultural Advisory Board, Orange County Rape Crisis Center Board and is the Chair of the Black Faculty/Staff Caucus at UNC.

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