Tangela Blakely Reavis
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership
Saint Mary's College of California
Professional Bio
Dr. Tangela Blakely Reavis is a tenured Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the Kalmanovitz School of Education at Saint Mary’s College of California. She is a scholar-practitioner with nearly two decades of experience in higher education student affairs, nonprofit leadership, and educational research.
Her research examines Black students’ pathways into, through, and beyond postsecondary education, focusing on college-going experiences across K–12 schooling and higher education.
She also studies how educational organizations structure opportunity. Her work investigates organizational routines, leadership practices, and policy within schools and colleges and how these dynamics shape students’ experiences and access to postsecondary opportunity. Her work seeks to identify approaches that advance equity and disrupt systems that reproduce inequitable outcomes.
Drawing on critical and asset-based frameworks such as the theory of racialized organizations and community cultural wealth, her projects include a Spencer Foundation–funded study investigating how the global pandemic reshaped California public schools and postsecondary opportunities for Black students. Her work also examines the lived experiences of Black women through the Black Women’s Alumnae Project, a critical oral history study exploring Black women’s college experiences.
Her scholarship has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including American Educational Research Journal and Journal of Higher Education, as well as policy outlets.
Dr. Reavis earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a concentration in Higher Education. A first-generation college graduate and proud HBCU alumna, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College.
Her research examines Black students’ pathways into, through, and beyond postsecondary education, focusing on college-going experiences across K–12 schooling and higher education.
She also studies how educational organizations structure opportunity. Her work investigates organizational routines, leadership practices, and policy within schools and colleges and how these dynamics shape students’ experiences and access to postsecondary opportunity. Her work seeks to identify approaches that advance equity and disrupt systems that reproduce inequitable outcomes.
Drawing on critical and asset-based frameworks such as the theory of racialized organizations and community cultural wealth, her projects include a Spencer Foundation–funded study investigating how the global pandemic reshaped California public schools and postsecondary opportunities for Black students. Her work also examines the lived experiences of Black women through the Black Women’s Alumnae Project, a critical oral history study exploring Black women’s college experiences.
Her scholarship has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including American Educational Research Journal and Journal of Higher Education, as well as policy outlets.
Dr. Reavis earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a concentration in Higher Education. A first-generation college graduate and proud HBCU alumna, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College.
Institution/Organization
Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California
General Member