About Dr. Joe-Joe McManus
Dr. Joe-Joe McManus is the Executive Director of the City University of New York (CUNY) Leadership Academy, and works as a consultant on equity and diversity leadership in education.
The academic and professional goals that Dr. McManus has pursued have been motivated by his personal history. When Joe-Joe was a year old his brother Kacey was adopted, he was five weeks old. A few years later B-J, the youngest brother, was born. Racism became an issue early on for the boys because of reactions to Kacey being an African American child in a European American family. Later issues of anti-Semitism and classism piled on; Mom being Jewish and the family living in an apartment behind a liquor store. There was also a history of Interreligious marriage; Grandpa was Irish Catholic and Grandma English Protestant, on Dad’s side.
Nothing was more difficult to cope with than the racism that was directed at Kacey. Teachers were the worst. They placed Kacey in the lowest possible classes, Joe-Joe in the highest. They both knew that wasn’t right. Their parents fought with the teachers, and Kacey and Joe-Joe fought…everyone, it seemed. Over time the prejudice in school, the racism that is everyday America, and the tremendous stresses of being an adolescent, became too much. At the age of seventeen Kacey became a victim of suicide, and Joe-Joe suffered the most profound loss of his young life.
Kacey and Joe-Joe had tried to make a difference, speaking to fellow students, arguing with teachers, taking on anyone that dared make a racist comment. It all seemed in vain. Joe-Joe felt like a failure, unable to protect his younger brother from the pain and injustice.
Years of struggling silently with the loss of his brother followed, constantly fuming over manifestations of racism that continued to go unchecked. Oppression of all sorts became evident, and continued to fuel his rage. Then Joe-Joe began to speak, loudly. He spoke at schools with students he didn’t know, trying to work with them to combat racism in themselves and others. He spoke to teachers he did know, tearing apart their Eurocentric curricula and oppressive teaching practices. He found himself speaking to international audiences at universities in Moscow, Kiev, and all over Russia, then at the University of Cambridge, then to a packed hall of military personnel back in the States, then again on campus at the college he was attending. His work caught the attention of new mentors that continue to guide him today.
His personal commitment, academic knowledge, and professional experience are the foundation of Dr. McManus’ no-nonsense style and results oriented approach. The first in his family, McManus earned a B.S. in psychology and went on to receive his M.A. in Multicultural Education. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in 2000. As a specialist in critical multicultural education Dr. McManus is an advocate for praxis, recognizing the need for translating theory and research into transformational practice in our schools and universities.
Dr. McManus’ experience includes multicultural teacher education, curriculum development, educator mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary and cross sector partnerships, and organizational development. He has lectured, served on panels, presented, and consulted in the U.S. and internationally more than two decades. Dr. McManus currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Multicultural Education and is a member of the Diversity Collegium think tank. He is currently consulting and working on The DiCE Group anthology and an autobiographical book addressing issues of equity, leadership, and education.
Notably, McManus completed an appointment as a visiting professor at Chancellor College at the University of Malaŵi (2001-02) through the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH). For the previous four years he taught in the College of Education at Florida A&M University where his students dubbed him "Dr. Joe-Joe."
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Below you'll find links to my networking webpages.
On most networking sites you must be a member of that site in order to view anyone else's profile page.
TED brings together creative and revolutionary minds from around the world. For me, this is a place to reach out to people who aren't afraid to think, cross sectors, and change the world.
Here you'll find my professional profile on the LinkedIn network. This is primarily a business networking site.
This is a networking site for Florida A&M University almni. I'm a proud Rattler, and look forward to connecting with fellow alumni.
It seems that everyone has a myspace page. This is a social networking site. Mine is set to private, so this page is for family and friends.
Facebook is another social networking site, built initially on school/university affiliations. This is an important site for educators to be familiar with, as many students are using this site now.
My International Leadership Association Page
The International Leadership Association is the premiere association for professionals in the field of leadership development and education.
I have my personal library online. I include this here because I believe you can sometimes learn something about a person based on what they have on their bookshelves. Go to my LibraryThing page, and click on "see catelogue" to view my personal library. This is a great site, which is particularly useful if you loan out a lot of books.