Nathern OkilwaDr. Nathern Okilwa is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Baylor University, United States. Nathern earned his PhD in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Policy and Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining academia, Nathern’s experience and commitment to education spanned 13 years of general and special education teaching in K12 settings across a variety of sociocultural contexts. Born and raised in Kenya, Nathern started his teaching career in a rural farming community school in western Kenya for several years before moving to the United States to study special education. After a master’s degree in special education at the University of Wyoming, United States, Nathern taught and coordinated special education in Wyoming for several years. Furthermore, while pursuing his PhD, Nathern taught special education at the Alternative Learning Center in Austin – a school for students on discipline removal from their home school.
The personal background and professional experiences have significantly shaped and continue to inform Nathern’s scholarly interests and commitments. Therefore, Nathern’s research agenda spans a variety of critical areas in the field of educational leadership: (i) leadership preparation and development – acknowledges the integral role school leaders play in student outcomes and centers on preparing and developing school leaders’ capacity to support an exceedingly diverse student population; (ii) international structure of schooling – acknowledges the interconnectedness of our global community hence the need to collaborate and learn from varied contexts; (iii) educational policy – seeks to understand and evaluate the formulation, implementation, and implication of educational policies; and (iv) educational equity – acknowledges the prevalence of inequities in the educational experiences of students and seeks to highlight those inequities and how they can be addressed.
Nathern is an active member and organizer (i.e., Steering Committee member) of a consortium of international researchers, International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), that is engaged in the study of educational leadership around the globe. This consortium, which is co-sponsored by UCEA and BELMAS, is actively involved in collaborative research projects that maintain a pulse on the evolving state of educational leadership globally. Additionally, Nathern is one of the co-directors of UCEA’s Center for the International Study of School Leadership (CISSL), another important avenue to maintain international engagement. Furthermore, since 2019 Nathern serves as an associate editor of one of UCEA’s flagship journals, the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership (JCEL), including a term as Editor-in-Chief (2021–2022).
I have been a member of BELMAS since 2019 and I have attended the annual conferences since then, except for the two COVID-19 pandemic years. Since becoming a member, I have spoken highly of BELMAS to my colleagues in the United States and encouraged them to consider attending. Consequently, I have seen several of them attend BELMAS. In addition to being a member of ISLDN, I am an active member of UCEA with a wide network of colleagues to talk to about BELMAS. Therefore, as a trustee, I will continue being a strong advocate and ambassador of this Learned Society.
My background in international collaboration and research spans a variety of projects and countries. I have conducted research in Kenya, examining the culture of academic success at three prominent girls-only national public schools. One published article from this research examined the contribution of school leadership to the academic success of one of the schools located in Central County, Kenya (see Okilwa & Duarte, 2019. In keeping with my interest in educational outcomes for young people in Kenya, I published an article highlighting challenges that diminish educational opportunities for young people in Northeastern Kenya. Additionally, as a member of ISLDN, which represents researchers from a variety of geopolitical and cultural contexts, it makes our scholarship unique and exciting. Because of this consortium, I have authored or co-authored three book chapters, three journal articles, and presented eleven conference papers – highlighting areas such as school leadership in high needs contexts, the impact of the pandemic on schools, and school leadership well-being.
Overall, I have published: 22 peer-reviewed journal articles, which appear in leading journals in our field (e.g., MiE, JEA, ISEA, Leadership and Policy in Schools, etc.); 12 peer-reviewed book chapters; and co-edited one book and in the process of co-editing three other books – two focused on K12 educational partnerships and one focused on resilience in school leadership. Additionally, I actively present my scholarship at professional conferences, nationally and internationally, to include UCEA and BELMAS.
Cosistent with BELMAS mission, “…to be the place where research meets practice in Educational Leadership Management and Administration” I have committed my life to education as a teacher in K-12 schools and now in academia. When I transitioned from K-12 schools to academia, I sought opportunities to maintain partnership with the school district. Therefore, while I was a faculty member at the University of Texas at San Antonio, I was one of the coordinators of the university-school district partnership i.e., a partnership aimed at providing a master’s degree with principal certification. As one of the coordinators of the program, I maintained close collaboration with the school district to meet the needs of the school district. Additionally, I have published several articles in collaboration with practitioners e.g., Okilwa, Kelley, & Haupert (2025) and Okilwa & Guitierrez (2026).
I, therefore, strongly believe if given an opportunity my collective personal background, professional, and scholarly experiences position me well to effectively serve and advance the mission and vision of BELMAS.
