Noor Jones-Bey is a trans-disciplinary educator, researcher and artist from the Bay Area, CA. She holds a PhD in Urban Education at the Steinhardt School and fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Urban Doctoral Research Initiative and Global Research Initiative at NYU. Noor is the prior program director of EXCEL at NYU, a critical literacy and college access program for youth in the South Bronx housed at the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. 

Her scholarly and professional work weaves together research, practice and theory making alongside students, faculty, teachers, parents, community members, funders and administrators.  She utilizes both her experiential and academic framework to reimagine public and private space for community education and healing justice.  As a scholar deeply interested in the movement between theory and practice as well as art and science, Noor designs collaborative spaces for problem solving, learning and expression. 
 
Noor received an M.A. in Sociology of Education from New York University and a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.  Noor’s interests engage across disciplines of sociology, education, Black and Indigenous studies, and visual culture to examine issues of liminality, identity, space and power as they relate to education. 

Noor's experiences as a student, educator, researcher and program director have equipped her with a diversity of skills and critical perspectives to design research, curriculum and programming that is culturally relevant, responsive and life-centered. In her spare time, she loves to cook, dance, run marathons, travel, and stir up good vibes.