Dr. Jayla Moody Marshall is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at North Carolina Central University. Her scholarship centers purpose development among marginalized college students, investigating how institutional structures shape their journeys through higher education and influence their opportunities to thrive during and after college. Through critical, qualitative inquiry, she investigates how care, joy, and community function as tools for transformation. Her research also explores institutional practices in graduate education, including mentorship and holistic student development.
Dr. Moody Marshall earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development with a concentration in Higher Education Opportunity, Equity, and Justice from North Carolina State University. Her dissertation, “But Then You Remember Your Purpose:” A Phenomenological Exploration of Black Undergraduate Women’s Critical Purpose Development at a Predominantly White Institution, was awarded the Dr. Melvin C. Terrell Educational Foundation Dissertation Support Grant.
While at NC State, Dr. Marshall was selected as the 2025 Graduate Student Commencement Speaker for the NC State College of Education and received the 2024 Chancellor’s Creating Community Outstanding Graduate Student Award. She was named to the 2025 “30 Under 40” Sawubona Class by ACPA–College Student Educators International’s Pan African Network, where she was nominated in the Mentorship category. From 2023 to 2025, she served as a graduate representative on the Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) through the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). She also served as Co-Editor of the New Directions for Higher Education special issue, Humanizing Higher Education.
Dr. Marshall’s diverse expertise is complemented by her background as a storyteller. A regular contributor to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, she believes in the power of storytelling to drive change. She writes at the intersection of justice and transformative practice. Drawing on her experience in program coordination, admissions, and student advising across undergraduate and graduate education, she leverages narratives to build higher education environments where students are seen, valued and empowered.
She holds a master's degree in Communications from Georgia State University and a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Global Development Studies from Mercer University. She is a proud product of the DeKalb County School System in Metro Atlanta, Georgia.