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Dr. Ann Ifekwunigwe is an equity warrior who is committed to making the world a better place through education.

Before joining the Richard Bland College of William and Mary in July 2022, Dr. Ifekwunigwe served the children and families of Richmond Public Schools. With the advent of the global pandemic, Dr. Ifekwunigwe returned to teaching and was grateful for the opportunity to work 100% virtually. In addition to teaching, she has held senior leadership positions in school systems in Virginia, ranging in size from 5,000 to 30,000 students.

Dr. Ifekwunigwe began her career teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) and was the co-director of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Project at UCLA for five years. She has been a scholar at the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and has worked in the United States Senate as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow.

As a Presidential Fellow, she earned a Doctorate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her doctoral research and dissertation focused on the development and implementation of a strategic plan for increased middle school mathematics achievement. Before attending Harvard, Dr. Ifekwunigwe was an adjunct faculty member at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology, a member of the Board of Directors of EdSource, and a founding board member of the California Alliance of African American Educators.

Dr. Ifekwunigwe has lived in Virginia for more than a dozen years, where she continues to serve her profession and her community. Dr. Ifekwunigwe has authored or co-authored more than $7.5 million in successful grants to meet specific educational and academic needs. She was a founding board member and former Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Youth Volunteer Corps of Hampton Roads, an organization dedicated to providing service and leadership opportunities for youth ages 11 to 18.

From 2019 to 2020, she served as a Fellow at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. In 2019, Dr. Ifekwunigwe became the Vice-Chair of the Virginia NBCT Network and an NBCT LEAP Grant Instructional Designer. As a member of the Instructional Design Team, she collaborated to create a professional learning program for preservice and in-service teachers, built on the National Board’s Five Core Propositions. Dr. Ifekwunigwe was elected Chair of the Virginia NBCT Network in 2021. She serves as a Founding Board Member of Early Childhood Ethiopia, a nonprofit organization committed to improving access to affordable, high quality, early childhood education across Ethiopia. Dr. Ifekwunigwe is also a member of the Vestry at her church.

Dr. Ifekwunigwe holds a bachelor’s degree in human development from the University of California, Riverside; a master’s degree in education from UCLA; a master’s degree in education administration from Pepperdine University; a master’s degree in education policy and management from Harvard; an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT; and an Endorsement in Gifted Education from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Ifekwunigwe shares a multi-generational home in Petersburg, VA with her mother and daughter (both named Muriel), two Great Danes, and a Rat Terrier (who thinks he’s a Great Dane). She enjoys reading, writing, learning, and spending time with family and friends.