Joanne Kilgour Dowdy is a Professor at Kent State University, Ohio. A graduate of the Juilliard School in the theater division, Dr. Dowdy continues to use her drama training to prepare teachers for the literacy classroom, and as a performer who facilitates writing development through interactive workshops. Her major research interests include documenting the experiences of Black women involved in education from adult basic literacy to higher education. She has written and edited sixteen books. Her first book is a volume co-edited with Dr. Lisa Delpit, entitled, The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom (The New Press). Her fifth book: Ph.D. Stories: Conversations with My Sisters, is published by Hampton Press and was awarded the 2009 American Educational Research Association Narrative and Research Special Interest Group's Outstanding Book Award. In 2014, Olympic Hero: Lennox Kilgour's Story (Dr. Dowdy's first children's book) was released by Caribbean Studies Press.
