Martha Kakooza

Dynamic programming coordinator with a proven track record at Johns Hopkins University, enhancing mentorship programs and achieving a 30% increase in student satisfaction. Skilled in project management and community engagement, I excel in developing impactful curricula and fostering leadership among diverse student populations. Committed to driving academic success and inclusivity.

• Kakooza, M., Hailu, M., Nabulega, S., Muhanguzi, F., Gender equality and institutional support in Ugandan higher education: Experiences of women in engineering., Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
• Kakooza, M., Appiah, E., Adeagbo, T., The Higher Education Green Book: Geographies of Belonging at Elite Institutions., SUNY Press
• Rodgers, A. R., Kakooza, M., Writing Beyond the Gaze: Writer Identity Construction in Black Women’s Personal Statements to Doctoral Programs., AERA Open

• National Women Studies Association Women of Color Leadership Project (WOCLP), 2025, The Women of Color Leadership Project (WOCLP) is a national leadership institute within the National Women’s Studies Association (est. 2000) cultivating a robust pipeline of women leaders through targeted mentoring, professional development, and association engagement.
• Professional and Organizational Development(POD) Network in Higher Education – Donald H. Wulff Fellowship, 2025, The Donald H. Wulff Fellowship (POD Network) develops educational leaders prepared to lead teaching & learning centers through mentored engagement, conference participation, and community-based learning, advancing inclusive pedagogy and evidence-based change across higher ed.
• George Mason Center for Social Research Summer Institute for Research Methods Fellow, 2025, Awarded fellowship to attend a competitive, fully funded methods institute emphasizing participatory and community-engaged research, protocol design, and mentorship for ongoing collaboration.
• Pipeline 2 Possibilities(P2P) Program Fellow, 12/21, Pipelines 2 Possibilities (P2P) is an HBCU graduate student internship program, designed to develop an intentional California Community College faculty pipeline. Through proactive recruitment, hiring, and retention of diverse tenured faculty, P2P aims to diminish equity gaps, meet the needs of diverse student populations, and improve student success in the California Community College system.
• American Association of Colleges and Universities Future Leaders Society Fellow, 12/22, Inductees are selected based upon their demonstrated commitments to equity, innovations in teaching and learning, and community engagement as integrated components of their graduate work, including annual-meeting engagement and cross-institutional networking. Cohort (25 out of 150 applicants)

• Research Grant Cross stitching our stories: Unweaving the threads of narrative self-construction in Black women and femmes' personal statements., Support from the Inclusive Graduate Education Network (IGEN), Co-PI, $2,599
• Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) Vanderbilt Community Lab for the Intersectional Study of Black Women and Girls in Society's Small Group Learning Communities, The spirit of our work: Black women teachers (re)member by Cynthia B. Dillard., Funded by Vanderbilt University Community Lab, Co-Facilitator, $1,500
• Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) Vanderbilt Community Lab for the Intersectional Study of Black Women and Girls in Society's Small Group Learning Communities, Black feminism in qualitative inquiry: A mosaic for writing our daughter's body by Venus Evans-Winters., Funded by Vanderbilt University Community Lab, Reading Group Member, $2,500

• Kakooza, M., 2025, Ubuntu as a Framework for Restoring Autonomy in Research on Black Women’s Higher Education Experiences, Paper session, Canadian Association of African Studies Conference (CAAS/ACEA), Toronto, ON
• Dissassa, D.-T., Kakooza, M., 2025, Finding Our Collective Voice: A Dialogic Space for African Women to Promote Anticolonial Regeneration among the Diaspora, Panel session, Canadian Association of African Studies Conference (CAAS/ACEA), Toronto, ON
• Tilley, S., Dissassa, D.-T., Kakooza, M., 2025, Children of the Diaspora: Supporting Doctoral Students in the African Diaspora through Ubuntu Philosophy, Workshop session, Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Summer Institute, Ghana
• Kakooza, M., Nabulega, S., Hailu, M., Muhanguzi, F., 2024, Gender equality and institutional support in Ugandan higher education: Experiences of women in engineering, Paper session, Association of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN
• Joseph, N. M., Kakooza, M., Douglas, A., 2023, The role of culture, gender, and race in Black immigrant girls' math identity development, Paper session, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL
• Dissassa, D., Kakooza, M., 2023, When we become well: Utilizing Ubuntu within occupational wellness, Workshop session, American College Personnel Association - College Student Educators International National Convention (ACPA) Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA
• Joseph, N. M., Kakooza, M., Douglas, A., 2022, Loving mathematics my way: An intersectional account of resistance in a Haitian girl's mathematics identity, Paper Session, International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) Biennial Meeting, Cancun, Mexico
• Williams, E., Kakooza, M., 2022, Rethinking African girlhoods, Roundtable Session, National Women's Studies Association Conference (NWSA), Minneapolis, MN
• Kakooza, M., Rodgers, A. J., 2022, Cross stitching our stories: Unweaving the threads of narrative self-construction in Black women and femmes' personal statements in STEM, Paper Session, Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Hollingsworth, J., Kakooza, M., 2022, The othering of Blackness in the academy: A duo ethnography of Black women's cross-cultural experiences, Paper Session, Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Hollingsworth, J., Kakooza, M., 2022, Building solidarity: Transnational experiences of Black women in U.S. postsecondary institutions, Conference Session, Johns Hopkins University Diversity and Inclusion Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD
• Kakooza, M., Rodgers, A. J., 2022, Unweaving the threads of narrative self-construction in Black women and femmes' personal statements, Paper Session, Annual Africana Studies Interdisciplinary Conference, James Madison University
• Kakooza, M., 2018, Immigration and gender issues, Paper presentation, Women and Gender Studies Annual Conference, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
• Rio, C., Kakooza, M., Honeycutt, V., 2017, Can logistical populations strike a better bio-bargain? Examining Baltimore's solidarity economy, Paper Presentation, National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), Baltimore, MD
• Barlow, J., Kakooza, M., 2017, Saving our sisters: Saving ourselves (SOS2): Implementing an agentic approach to Black women's health, Paper Presentation, National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), Baltimore, MD

• Thriving in graduate school as a business leader: A holistic approach towards occupational wellbeing and leadership, 08/24, Virtual presentation, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Baltimore, MD
• Utilizing Ubuntu to promote decolonization in workplace wellness, 06/24, Virtual presentation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
• Studying the legacies of women and femmes: Exploring the historical influence of predecessors, 05/23, In-person presentation, Gender and Sexuality Resource Women and Femmes Celebration, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Empowering connections: Navigating networking as a student of color, 04/23, In-person presentation, Communities of Color conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Interrogation of racialization and gender dynamics in the personal statement, 03/23, Virtual presentation, Inclusive Graduate Education Network Research Hub Advisory Board meeting
• Storytelling on our terms: Narrative self-construction in Black women and femmes' statements to graduate school, 03/23, Webinar series, IGEN-NASEM Beyond Broadening Participation in Graduate Education and STEM Organizations
• Storylistening: Holistic evaluative practices for reading personal statements of historically excluded students, 03/23, Webinar series, IGEN-NASEM Beyond Broadening Participation in Graduate Education and STEM Organizations (Faculty and Administrators)
• Sista conversations: Navigating historically white serving socio-spaces, 12/22, In-person talk, St. Timothy Girls School, Baltimore, MD
• Writing ourselves into the academy: Interrogating racialization in personal statements, 10/22, Virtual presentation, 19th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Breaking barriers, leading change: Empowering women student leaders to make an impact, 05/22, In-person presentation, Women and Femmes Leaders Annual Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Beyond the box: Embracing and celebrating diversity in marginalized identities, 04/22, In-person talk, Communities of Color Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• NASPA Faculty Council's doctoral seminar, 03/22, Invited panelist, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Baltimore, MD
• Cross stitching our stories: Unweaving the threads of narrative self-construction in Black women and femmes' personal statements, 10/21, Virtual lecture, The Psychology of the African American Experience course, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
• Implementing an agentic approach to Black women's research, 04/18, Invited talk, Advocates for Justice and Inclusion, School of Communication, Towson University, Towson, MD

• 2025, Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education, $1600
• 2024, Graduate Student Travel and Research Presentation Fund, Graduate Student Association, Morgan State University, $500
• 2023, Association of American Colleges & University Future Leaders Society
• 2023, Morgan State University Graduate Student Presentation Award, $500
• 2022, Morgan State University Doctoral Travel Grant, $500
• 2022, Graduate Student Travel and Research Presentation Fund, Chair of Department Advanced Studies, Leadership, and Policy, Morgan State University, $1,000
• 2021, Morgan State University Doctoral Travel Grant, $500
• 2018, Towson University, College of Liberal Arts and Humanities Commencement Speaker
• 2017, Towson University, Dean of College of Liberal Arts Fellowship Award, $2,000
• 2016, Towson University, Women and Gender Studies Department Scholarship, $30,000

• Hollingsworth, J. D., Kakooza, M., 2024, Is my hair neat?! A duoethnography of Black women's cross-cultural socialization in academia., International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-13
• Hutchinson, D., Nyandiko Sanya, B., Ogali-Frederic, D., Kakooza, M., 2024, How Institutional Policies and Practices Impact Black Immigrant College Students’ Experiences., B. R. Silver, G. Pagliarulo McCarron, Supporting College Students of Immigrant Origin: New Insights from Research, Policy, and Practice, 290–309, Cambridge University Press
• Johnson, B., Junious, T., Kakooza, M., Isaac, C., Garofolo, J., Whyte, D., Stalter, M., 2023, Our WISH for Black girls’ and women’s health: Women, Intersectionality, Science and Health (WISH) Writing Lab response., J. N. Barlow, Writing Blackgirls’ and Women’s Health Science: Implications for research and praxis, Lexington Books
• Kakooza, M., Robinson, S., 2023, The table at Berkeley: An ethnodrama recounting the experiences of bisexual faculty and staff navigating the workplace., Leadership in turbulent times: Cultivating diversity and inclusion in the higher education workplace, 83-96, Emerald Publishing Limited
• Barlow, J. N., Kakooza, M., Easley, M., 2023, Writehealing: A Sistah's Circle praxis to heal and liberate., Women & Therapy, 46, 3, 261-283
• Kakooza, M., 2022, Color v colour., K. Bista, A. Newson-Horst, Global footprints in higher education: Cross-cultural experiences of students and faculty.

• Ubuntu epistemologies
• African diaspora
• Global South
• Black migration & higher education
• Race, belonging, and campus climate
• Spatial narratives & place-making
• Dialogical narrative inquiry
• Qualitative research
• Community-engaged/participatory research
• Program design & assessment
• Student success/retention