Cynthia Salley Nicholson, PhD
Educator/Program Coordinator at NSU
Dr. Cynthia Salley Nicholson has spent over 25 years of her career as an educator in secondary and post-secondary English. Currently, she serves as a program coordinator at Norfolk State University (NSU) in Virginia. She chose to continue her career at an historically black college and university (HBCU), because Dr. Nicholson credits this type of institution for giving her a chance many years ago.
Working in the School of Education at NSU, Dr. Nicholson continues her research with issues of access and equity among teacher education students. She is committed to reimagining ways that teacher education practitioners best prepare students to serve in public schools. Objectively, Dr. Nicholson finds in necessary to address hiring and retention practices that will sustain teachers of color, especially when it comes to promoting acceptance and tolerance for Black female identity. Her most recent research and publications have included works that share stories from the Black female experience in school and higher education.
Prior to joining the NSU family, Dr. Nicholson served as the Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina (2014 – 2020). She was the first Black woman to hold that position in the school’s history. Fostering academic excellence, Dr. Nicholson managed and collaborated activities for the university’s largest school housing eight academic departments. Much of her work included efforts to expand curriculum to meet the needs of underserved students. From adding grammar labs for composition classes to creating African American literature classes for non-majors, Dr. Nicholson worked to diversify curriculum by adding more inclusive course offerings. As an administrator, she was noted for her collaborative leadership style. Student learning and student success were at the core of her passion as a leader.
Dr. Nicholson spent 11 years as a high school English teacher. Holding multiple positions from mentor teacher to district literacy coach, she has obtained secondary English teaching certifications and taught in the states of South Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, and Georgia. She earned a BA degree in English from Newberry College (1992). Her teacher certification was earned at South Carolina State University, an HBCU (1993). Both her MS in Secondary Education (2003) and MA in English (2007) were earned from Old Dominion University. As a doctoral student, Dr. Nicholson was awarded the Underrepresented Graduate Enrichment Match Fellowship to complete her studies at Arizona State University where she earned a PhD in English Education (2011).
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