• Quinton

    Quinton Stroud


    Quinton Gerard Stroud is a fifth-year doctoral candidate pursuing a degree in educational policy studies with a minor in philanthropic studies. His research interests include the study of the role of the arts in education, philanthropy, and the policymaking process. He previously served as a municipal commissioner with the Bloomington Arts Commission and has worked as the governor’s intern for the Indiana Arts Commission.  There, he conducted a statewide assessment of grantee organizations perceptions of and experiences with diversity and inclusion related work and its impact on their efforts to provide arts and cultural opportunities for their various communities. Prior to beginning doctoral study at Indiana University, he worked as a policy analyst in the Education division at the RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C. completing a variety of research oriented tasks across the non-profit and public sector. 

     

    He received his Master of Science in Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. 

     

    Quinton developed his passion for equity centered work in education after completing a year of service at Sarah T. Reed High School in New Orleans working with the AmeriCorps program City Year. As a corps member he was disturbed by the blatant inequality in access to educational opportunities for the students in his school and across the city. This experience convinced him to pursue graduate school as a means of better understanding the systemic issues which allowed for such unequal systems of schooling to exist. He is ecstatic to be joining the APS equity team and looking forward to utilizing the knowledge and skills gained across his professional and educational experiences to support the district in moving toward developing equitable policies and practices which increase opportunity for all of Atlanta’s young people. While not a native of the city, he feels a deep sense of connection to the Atlanta area having been born in DeKalb General Hospital. 


    He is the founder of the Black Joy Collective, a student organization which focuses its attention on supporting the socio-emotional wellbeing of Black graduate students, faculty, and staff on IU’s campus.  He is deeply proud of this work and of the production of a successful two-day conference, On Black Joy. He also recently published his first children’s book, The Wonderful Thing About Yemaya, and is the September 2020 recipient of Diversity Initiative Winner with Roadmap Writers for the submission of his original screenplay, Tony.

     

    Fun Fact: Quinton’s all-time favorite snack is cold fuji apples with extra crunchy peanut butter.