Dr. Mary Roaf

Mary Roaf began a 20+-year career in social justice and equity in K-12 schooling and higher education in 1993. Following a stint in teaching public school and serving in a variety of outreach and education programs geared toward undocumented and other marginalized youth, completion of M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology of Education from Northern Arizona University and Temple University, Mary joined the Stanislaus State Ethnic Studies Department in 2018. Mary’s research, teaching and social justice activism addresses interlocking oppressions of race, class, and gender. Specifically, her research addresses dismantling the “school to prison” pipeline and building upon her work on Black decolonial feminisms after participating in the 2019 Black Decolonial Transnational Feminism Program in Cachoeira, Brazil. Dr. Roaf has continued to expand the intersectional and international focus of her research as a 2023 Fulbrighter to South Africa, where she learned in-depth about the liberation movement to dismantle apartheid that drew inspiration and strategies from the U.S. based Black Power Movement. Dr. Roaf’s commitment to exemplary decolonial pedagogy and community-based work garnered her the Elizabeth Papageorge Faculty Award in Teaching in 2020-21, and the Outstanding Community Service Professor Award in 2024-25. Dr. Roaf also served as the Ethnic Studies Department Chair from 2022-2026.

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3pm-5pm or by appointment