Assata Zerai

Photo: Assata Zerai

Vice President for Division for Change and Empowerment and Professor of Sociology

Bio:

Assata Zerai, Ph.D. (she | her) serves as Vice President and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. At the helm of the Division for Change and Empowerment, she plans for, resources, and documents inclusive excellence at UNM. She has published six books and numerous articles in academic presses spanning multiple topics including educational equity; maternal and child health; African women’s access to safe water, sanitation, and mobile technology; and making the work of marginalized scholars more accessible. During her Fulbright-Hays research abroad fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand, Dr. Zerai wrote Black Feminist Interventions to Decolonize the Westernized University (2025).