Dr. Nia is a legend in her community.

Dr. Nia Nunn is a TEDx speaker (2014), teacher, scholar, and consultant whose work blends research, creativity, and community engagement. She is the author of several publications, including Super-Girl: Strength & Sadness in Black Girlhood (2016), Deep Breath: A Poetry Book and Curriculum (2022), and The Community is My Classroom: Radical Vulnerability as Curriculum, a workbook-textbook for students in education, educators and practitioners.

Grounded in a Black Consciousness curricular framework, Dr. Nunn delivers her signature innovation, Radical Vulnerability, through transformational workshops, coaching, consulting, and keynote addresses for institutions and organizations worldwide. A scientist-practitioner, her methodology strengthens organizational and community culture through reflective practice and human-centered design.

After earning her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Michigan State University and her B.A. in Early Childhood Education from Clark Atlanta University, she returned to her home community of Ithaca, New York. There she serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor at Ithaca College and Director of the Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP), and previously as School Psychologist at Beverly J. Martin Elementary.

Known lovingly in her community as “Dr. Nia,” she has worn many “head wraps” as a homegrown leader—poet, yogi, educator, cultural worker. She brings learning to life with creativity, intensity, and grace.