Faculty Directory

William R. Black, Ph.D.

Black is a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of South Florida. Before joining USF, he was an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Black has worked in Florida, Costa Rica and Texas as a community educator and immigration paralegal, bilingual elementary school teacher and elementary administrator. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and comparative area studies from Duke University and a master’s degree and doctorate in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

His research focuses on leadership preparation and partnerships, as well as educational policy implementation related to students with disabilities and bilingual or bicultural learners. He has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on grants totaling more than $4 million and has collaborated with local school districts to recruit, select and support more than 150 educators pursuing graduate degrees in educational leadership.

Black has served as co-editor of the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership and co-edited two volumes in the Research and Theory in Educational Leadership book series: Who Controls the Preparation of Education Administrators? (2019) and Who Decides?: Dis/Ability, Power, and Educational Leadership (2022). He is also a past president of the University Council for Educational Administration, a consortium of more than 100 research universities.