Zuleka Woods

Zuleka Randell Woods lives in the hyphen of the United States and Liberia. She is a dual degree student pursuing a doctoral degree in Planning, Governance & Globalization, and a Master’s in public health  She has a previous master’s degree in Higher Education from Northeastern University in Boston.

Zuleka works as a Graduate Assistant for the Virginia Tech Graduate School Office of Recruitment, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORDI). She also sits on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee for SPIA. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Zuleka worked at Ferrum College with First Generation students and as a member of their Academic Resource Team. She also worked with cultural centers at Northeastern University and in academic support services in Liberia, Tubman University.

Zuleka is passionate about storytelling. In her recent work, Ba-Ya (Play Cook), she uses everyday situations to highlight gender-based violence in Liberia. You can find Zuleka on Instagram: @Zuleka_ and Twitter: @Zulekatweets sharing her work, culture, and stories.

Research Interests

• Current research interests center on race
• Power structures
• Politics of representations in study abroad
• Public health work focusing on equity in Black maternal health.

Publications

• Woods, R. Z. & Harrison, A.K. (2021). Brown Girl in the Lens. Independent Social Research Foundation. Race and Markets Bulletin, issue xxiii,
• Dauda, R. Z., Woods, J. C., & Murzi, H. (2021). Understanding factors informing decision-making processes of engineering students selecting study abroad programs. 23rd Colloquium on International Engineering Education. University of Rhode Island.
• Woods, J. C. & Dauda, R. Z. (2020). Determining our path: A comparative analysis of higher education structure in Liberia and other West African Anglophone countries. Liberia Studies Association Conference.