For Kelly, the decision to become a social studies educator was founded on her belief that teaching practices and curriculum must acknowledge, respect, and sustain cultural lifeways and histories of students. Her tenure as a high school social studies teacher at a school with an Afrocentric focus was spent supporting students’ socio-historical curiosity. The school’s commitment to teaching, honoring, and centering Black history and culture was formative to her growth as a teacher and has continued to shape the trajectory of her work.

As a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kelly was selected to be a Multicultural Scholars Collaborative Fellow and R-1 Advanced Opportunity Fellowship. Kelly was also elected doctoral student representative on the Urban Education Doctoral Program Committee, a committee responsible for budgetary and program decision making for the Urban Education Doctoral Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Through this role, she guided the reconceptualization of coursework and programming as it pertained to the school’s urban education mission. Kelly also founded the Urban Education Doctoral Student Association, a student organization at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that advocates for urban education doctoral students and candidates on campus. Utilizing funding opportunities from the university, the organization provides professional development, research funding and conference travel for urban education doctoral students and candidates.

Beyond this, Kelly has a served as the Lead Research Assistant for the ACCESS (Asset-based Cultural Competence Ensuring Student Success) grant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a $5 million dollar, 3-year long U.S. Department of Education S.E.E.D. (Supporting Effective Educator Development) grant that sought to cultivate greater connections to culturally responsive pedagogy for over 400 teachers, administrators and staff across 12 schools within a local public school district. Through the research conducted with the ACCESS grant, Kelly examined teacher perceptions of culturally responsive professional development and critically questioned how we discuss culturally responsive and sustaining practices.

Most recently as an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies at Augusta University, Kelly has founded the Hip-Hop Pedagogy Project with Dr. Edmund Adjapong. The Hip-Hop Pedagogy Project aims to provide pedagogical and curricular resources and support for educators who want to implement hip-hop pedagogy.

To learn more about Kelly’s research, and to see her curriculum vitae, please visit the work page.