Donna J. Nicol

Donna J. Nicol is the associate dean for personnel and curriculum and professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at California State University Long Beach. Trained as an educational historian, Donna has published peer reviewed articles and opinion columns covering race, education, philanthropy and Black women's educational activism. She was also a featured expert in the 2021 documentary The Big Picture: A Race for America which explored how philanthropy shaped educational, health, political, and social outcomes for African Americans in the U.S. since the end of the U.S. Civil War. Donna earned her Ph.D. in Educational Studies (with a specialization in the history of African American higher education) from The Ohio State University in 2007.