Miriam Ezzani, Ed.D.

Miriam D. Ezzani is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education at Texas Christian University. She studies culturally responsive leadership within contexts of school and district reform and Islamic school leadership. Her research foci align with a unifying goal to examine how educational leaders plan, implement, and sustain reform efforts to support equitable and socially just schooling experiences for historically minoritized students, specifically on issues of race and faith.

Before her work in higher education, she served in California public schools as a school leader, literacy coach, and teacher. She is an alumna of the University of Southern California, where she earned a doctorate in K-12 Educational Leadership. Her publications appear in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of School Leadership, and Teachers College Record. She is a recipient of the American Educational Research Association, Division A, Emerging Scholar Award, and the University Council for Educational Administration Jack A. Culbertson Award. Dr. Ezzani is co-editor of Great Muslim Leaders: Lessons for Education and co-author of Islam, Education and Freedom: An Uncommon Perspective on Leadership.

Education

Ed.D. K-12 Educational Leadership
University of Southern California
2009

M.S., Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
University of Southern California
2005

B.S., General Studies
University of Southern California
2003

Leadership Positions

• Member, UCEA Executive Committee, 2023-2026
• Vice-Chair, TCU IRB Committee, 2023-2026
• Ed.D. Doctoral Program Coordinator, 2022-present
• Cabinet Member, College of Education, Texas Christian University, 2020-2023
• Chair, Systems Thinking in Education SIG, American Educational Research Association, 2020-2022
• Cabinet Member, College of Education, Texas Christian University, 2020-2023
• Chair, Systems Thinking in Education SIG, American Educational Research Association, 2020-2022
• Co-Founder, Diversity and Equity Committee, Department of Teacher Education and Administration, University of North Texas, 2012-2019
• Doctoral Coordinator, Educational Leadership Program, University of North Texas, 2016-2017
• School Leader, K-6, 2007-2010

Professional Achievements

• Co-Editor: UCEA Review, “Features” 2018-present
• Editorial Board, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 2019-present
• Editorial Board, Journal of School Leadership, 2018-present

Awards

• Emerging Scholar Award, American Educational Research Association, Division A: Administration, Organization, and Leadership, for outstanding contributions to the field of leadership, administration, or organizational theory, 2021
• Jack A. Culbertson Award, University Council for Educational Administration, for outstanding junior educational leadership professor in recognition of significant contributions to the field of educational leadership, 2020
• Inclusive Excellence Award, UNT Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity, Department of Teacher Education and Administration and the Program of Educational Leadership, Inaugural Recipient, 2017
• Exemplary Leadership and Service, Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, 2017
• Honorable Mention, Jeffrey V. Bennett Award, UCEA, for research article, 2016

Books

Brooks, M. C., & Ezzani, M. D. (2024). Islam, Freedom, and Education: An Uncommon Perspective on Leadership, In the series, Educational leadership: Innovative, critical and interdisciplinary perspectives. London: Bloomsbury.

Brooks, M. C., & Ezzani, M. D. (2023). Great Muslim leaders: Lessons for Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Selected Publications

Brooks, M. C., Ezzani, M. D., Sai, Y., & Sanjakdar, F. (2023). Racialization of Muslim students in Australia, Ireland, and the United States: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Race Ethnicity and Education, (26)2, 164-183.

Brooks, M. C., & Ezzani, M. D. (2022). Islamic school leadership: Advancing a framework for critical spirituality. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 35(3), 319-336.  

Ezzani, M. (2021). A principal’s approach to leadership for social justice: Advancing reflective and anti-oppressive practices. Journal of School Leadership, 31(3), 227–247.  

Ezzani, M. D., Brooks, M. C., Yang, L., & Bloom, A. (2021). Islamic school leadership and Social Justice: An international review of the literature. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-33.

Ezzani, M. D., Mun, R. U., & Lee, L. E. (2021). District leaders focused on systemic equity in identification and services for gifted education: From policy to practice, Roeper Review, 43(2), 112-127.

Paufler, N. A., Ezzani, M. D., Murakami, E. T., Viamontes Quintero, J., Pazey, B. L. (2020). Educational leadership doctoral program evaluation: Student voice as the litmus test. Journal of Research on Leadership Education.

Mun, R. U., Ezzani, M. D., Lee, L. E., Ottwein, J. (2020). Building systemic capacity to improve identification and service in gifted education: A case study of one district. Gifted Child Quarterly, 65(2), 132-152.

Ezzani, M. D. (2019). Principal and teacher instructional leadership: A cultural shift. International Journal of Educational Management, 34(3), 576-585.

Ezzani, M. D., & Brooks, M. C. (2019). Culturally relevant leadership: Advancing critical consciousness in American Muslim students. Educational Administration Quarterly, 55(5), 781-811.

Ezzani, M., & Paufler, N. (2018). Doctoral program in educational leadership redesign: Utilizing a multi-criteria framework. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 3(2).

Ezzani, M. (2015). Coherent district reform: A case study of two California school districts. Cogent Education. A Taylor & Francis peer-reviewed, open access, international scholarly journal.

Ezzani, M. & Brooks, M.C. (2015). (Mis)Understanding Islam in a suburban Texas school district. Religion and Education, 42(3), 237-254.