Biography

Brandi Blessett, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the leadership and management area in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Blessett has developed a reputation as a socially conscious researcher, administrator, teacher, and community partner. Her personal ethic has always been to center the lived experience to offer more robust insights by those directly impacted by administrative decisions. Dr. Blessett earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and holds a Masters in Educational Leadership from Wayne State University in Detroit. After teaching as a high school health and life skills teacher at Highland Park Community High School, she decided to pursue her doctorate at Old Dominion University. Her dissertation was titled “Dispersion or Re-segregation: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Public Policies and their Impact on Urban African American Mobility.” This work serves as the foundation for her research interests.

Education

PhD (Old Dominion University, 2011)

MED (Wayne State University, 2005)

BS (University of Michigan, 2003)