Julie Nagashima

Dr. Julie Nagashima received her B.A. from Soka University of America, a liberal arts college in California, and her Ph.D at University of Pittsburgh School of Education in the Social and Comparative Analysis in Education program. Her dissertation focused on student-teacher relationships and its significance for fostering student agency. She joined North Central College in 2019 and currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Ethical Leadership and Coordinator for the Character Education Certificate Program. 

Dr. Nagashima began her educational career as an intern and program coordinator supporting programs including UNESCO associated schools project at the Institute for International Studies in Education at University of Pittsburgh. Following her internship, she served for a non-profit organization as Educational Program Coordinator for six years and organized diversity awareness and student mentoring programs for undergraduate and graduate students in the city of Pittsburgh. After graduating with her doctorate, Dr. Nagashima worked as a postdoctoral research associate for two years where she supported a large-scale grant initiative for character education at Arizona State University.

"I believe that leadership is relational and cultivated from our lived experiences. Our experiences and interaction with others nurture our ways of knowing and being in our social context. We develop wisdom to engage and to act with courage and compassion. This dynamic process is also part of our character development. When we feel a strong sense of belonging and community, we develop a natural willingness to contribute to our society. Thus, leadership to me is relational and fostered in a life-long process of navigating and developing our inner and moral self as we engage with others." 

Selected Scholarship

Peer-reviewed:

Nagashima, J. & Bradford, M. (2021). Belongingness, places and digital spaces: A value-creative inquiry. The Journal of School & Society, 7(2), 69-85.

Nagashima, J. & Gibbs, N. (2021). Sensegathering and iteration: The evolution of a character education framework in higher education. Journal of Moral Education, DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2021.1909547

Nagashima, J. (April, 2012). Daisaku Ikeda’s philosophy of Soka Education in practice: A narrative approach to culturally specific language. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 9(1-2), 132-151.

Book chapters:

Nagashima, J. & Bradford, M. (in press). Enhancing the Dewey-Soka heritage in educational research: Relational, dialogical and narrative ways of knowing. In J. Goulah, G. Obelleiro, & J. Garrison (Eds.), The Dewey-Soka Heritage and the Future of Education.

Courses Taught

LEAD 130 Leadership for Changemaking

LEAD 260 Inner Transformation for Leadership

LEAD 360 Precepting

LEAD 320 Ethical Leadership

LEAD 390 Seminar on Leadership Theory

CHED 501 Character Education Module 1: Self as a Moral and Ethical Leader

CHED 502 Character Education Module 2: Character Education in the Classroom

CHED 503 Character Education Module 3: Character Education as a School Ethos

MORG 525 Diversity and Inclusion