Terrell Lamont Strayhorn

Education and career

Strayhorn is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was educated in the Virginia Beach Public Schools system and graduated with high honors from Kempsville High School. In high school, Strayhorn was deeply involved as photographer for the school's yearbook, student government, oceanography club, and starred as “Oliver Twist” in the school's rendition of the acclaimed Charles Dickens musical during his 10th grade year.

Immediately following high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia, also known as “Mr. Jefferson's University.” He earned a bachelor's degree (BA) in religious studies and music in just 4 years from UVA, after changing majors a few times from biology to math, from math to chemistry. Freshman year, Strayhorn was part of UVA's Air Force Reserve Officer in Training Corp (ROTC), Detachment 890, having received a full-ride academic scholarship from the airforce. A music major, choir director, and tenor, Strayhorn was an active member of UVA's Black Voices Gospel Choir during his undergraduate years. He served for several years as Minister of Music of the historic First Baptist Church-Main Street, then under leadership of Rev. Dr. Bruce Aaron Beard.

After earning his BA degree, Strayhorn went on to earn a master's degree (M.Ed.) in education policy studies with a cognate in higher education from the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. During graduate study, he worked as an office associate in the Dean of Students, Residence Life Office under direction of Dr. Angela M. Davis, Associate Dean of Student and Director of Residence Life]. His master's thesis focused on resegregation of higher education, arguing the need for affirmative action policies in college admissions at public universities. After completing a master's in education policy, Strayhorn accepted a job as research associate at the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington, DC; he was hired by former CGS President Jules LaPidus.

After working professionally at CGS and The Helix Group, a public health firm in suburban Maryland, Strayhorn returned to graduate study seeking a doctorate. Despite many options and strong interest from the University of Maryland, Strayhorn accepted a full-ride offer from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), which gave him a chance to return to his home state of Virginia. After 3 years of rigorous study, he earned a Ph.D. in higher education and educational research and evaluation from Virginia Tech. His doctoral advisor was Don G. Creamer, who chaired Strayhorn's doctoral dissertation that examined factors influencing the persistence of graduate students using nationally representative survey data from the Baccalaureate & Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:1993/1997) administered by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

Upon completion of his PhD, Strayhorn joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology (later reorganized into the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies) within the College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and granted tenure in just three years, compared to the national average that ranges from 6 to 7 years—making him the youngest tenured professor at UTK. Former UTK Provost Robert C. Holub appointed Strayhorn as Special Assistant to the Provost in March 2007 and the campus benefitted from Strayhorn's expertise in retention, student success, and issues of diversity. During his tenure, Strayhorn worked with campus administrators to establish the UTK LEAD Summer Institute (a summer bridge program), enhance the first-year experience, and increase diversity numbers at the Knoxville campus.

In 2010, Strayhorn moved from UTK to The Ohio State University as associate professor and joined the College of Education and Human Ecology's then School of Education Policy & Leadership located in Ramseyer Hall. His primary faculty appointment was in the Department of Educational Studies and he taught in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) graduate program, one of the Top 10 higher education programs in the country according to previous rankings from the U.S. News & World Report. He held faculty appointments in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, Department of African American and African Studies, and the Sexuality Studies, Engineering Education, and Educational Policy programs. Professor Strayhorn was Faculty Affiliate in the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Faculty Research Associate in the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male, and Faculty Affiliate in the OSU Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC). In 2014, Strayhorn was promoted to the rank of Professor—less than 10 years after receipt of his PhD—making him one of only 30 black full professors at OSU and the youngest full professor in the university's history.

Strayhorn directed the Center for Higher Education Enterprise (CHEE) at The Ohio State University, a multi-million dollar research and policy center, founded by former OSU President E. Gordon Gee, that focused on one primary goal in higher education: student success. Formerly, Strayhorn founded and directed the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, & Academic Success (IDEAS) at The Ohio State University, within the College of Education and Human Ecology located in historic Arps Hall and the Center for Higher Education Research and Policy (CHERP) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Most notably, Strayhorn is a highly regarded researcher and respected theorist in the field of higher education with particular expertise concerning historically underserved student populations, racial and sexual minorities, and issues of student success in both general and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In 2008, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded him a coveted CAREER research grant award, the highest honor that the NSF bestows upon early career scientists and rarely to education and social scientists. His 5-year project focused on identifying and testing proven strategies for broadening STEM participation among minorities, especially minority males. His book, College Students' Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students, has sold record copies and promulgated many research studies.

Amid controversy regarding an alleged travel audit, Strayhorn was terminated as CHEE director in 2017 although the audit showed "no intentional wrongdoing" on his part. He voluntarily resigned from his faculty position at OSU a short time later in a memo released May 3.

Selected awards and involvements

In 2008, the U.S. National Science Foundation awarded him a coveted CAREER research grant award, the highest honor that the NSF bestows upon early career scientists and rarely to education and social scientists. His 5-year project focused on identifying and testing proven strategies for broadening STEM participation among minorities, especially minority males. In 2009, he earned the Early Career/Promising Scholar Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education. With his early career success, Diverse Issues in Higher Education named Strayhorn one of 12 Top Emerging Scholars in the nation in 2011. And in 2012, Strayhorn delivered a popular TedX talk on student success and sense of belonging. Here's a list of his most notable awards and involvements:

Selected publications

Strayhorn is author of many books including Frameworks for Assessing Learning and Development Outcomes, Evolving Challenges of Black College Students, College Students' Sense of Belonging, Living at the Intersections, Theoretical Frameworks in College Student Research, Student Development Theory in Higher Education: A Social Psychological Approach over 60 chapters, and more than 200 refereed journal articles, reviews, and scientific reports.

Selected journal articles

Selected book chapters

Selected books