Dr. Margaret Mbindyo (she/her/hers)

Dr. Margaret Mbindyo began her teaching/advisement/mentoring career in Kenya where she served as a certified secondary school teacher.  She has earned several degrees including a dual title Ph.D. degree in Curriculum Instruction and Comparative and International Education from Penn State University, MA in Education Research from Vrije University in Brussels-Belgium, M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Penn State University, and a B S in Education in English Language and Literature from Kenyatta University-Kenya.  She is also a certified Swahili tester and rater for ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) for the Seal of Biliteracy (SOBL). 

In the US, she has many years working with students at risk of academic failure starting at Upward Bound Math Science at Penn State University, Upward Bound Program at Millersville University and as a K-12 Supervisor for College Career Readiness at Milton Hershey School.  Prior to her current position, Dr. Mbindyo served at various times as a temporary faculty and academic advisor in the department of Academic Advisement and Student Development at Millersville University and also as an academic advisor at Penn State University-Harrisburg.

Dr. Mbindyo's area of research includes the academic resilience and academic persistence and success of low-income/first generation and immigrant students.  She has presented her research in local, national and international conferences.  She is an awardee of NACADA's Emerging Leaders Program Class of 2019-2020 and a nominee and winner of the 2019 Mashujaa Awards (USA) in the Youth Empowerment category.  In the local community, she volunteers with Church World Services to help transition recent immigrants to the USA system of education.