Letitia Basford
Letitia Basford is a professor in the School of Education & Leadership and the faculty director of the Student Project for Amity among Nations (SPAN) program. She has also served as Hamline's faculty director of assessment and faculty director of Hamline’s Center of Teaching & Learning, promoting effective and inclusive teaching and assessment practices across campus.
Letitia’s teaching and research interests focus on active and engaging instructional practices, students’ access to an equitable education, and restorative school-wide practices. She has studied the experiences of teachers who courageously advocate for inclusive curriculum, a family’s experience in the school-to-prison-pipeline, how schools are working to prevent that pipeline, and the experiences of Somali and Hmong youth in ethnocentric charter schools. Letitia’s work has been published in journals such as The Urban Review, Review of Research in Education, Journal of School Choice, and in books such as Six Lenses for Anti-Oppressive Education, From Education to Incarceration: Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and Proud to be Different: Ethnocentric Niche Charter Schools in the US.
"I became a teacher educator because I wanted to inspire transformative pedagogical practice and educational policies that promote equity and access to education. Today, I remain deeply invested in these goals. I immerse myself in research that keeps me relevant. I infuse what I study directly into my courses while also tapping into the wealth of experience that my students bring with them into the classroom.
Before coming to Hamline, I taught English as a Second Language for middle school and adult newcomer students and was also a teen-parent teacher in northern California. When not teaching, I like to spend time with my two daughters and husband, traveling, listening to music, and enjoying time in nature."
—Letitia Basford
