Means wins award for his work in diversity, equality

Darris R. Means, an assistant professor in the College of Education's Department of Counseling and Human Development Services, has received an award from the Multicultural/Multiethnic Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association for his research advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all levels of education.

The Dr. Carlos J. Vallejo Memorial Award for Emerging Scholarship is given each year to an emerging scholar or early career faculty member whose research advances multicultural or multiethnic education within all educational, cultural, societal and social settings.

"My primary goal is to use research opportunities to collaborate with students, practitioners and organizations to address educational challenges for underrepresented student populations," said Means. "I particularly enjoy youth participatory action research because it moves young people from the margins of the conversation to the center in order to address educational challenges in their own communities."

Means teaches in the areas of counseling and student personnel services, and college student affairs administration. His research focuses on the areas of college access for students of color, low-income students and first-generation college students; and the intersection of race, gender and sexual orientation in higher education.

He received his doctoral degree from North Carolina State University, where he won awards for his dissertation and research work from the American Association for Blacks in Higher Education and the American College Personnel Association's Standing Committee for LGBT Awareness, respectively.