My mother affectionately recalls me “teaching to pillows and cushions” throughout my formative years. Having my childhood passion equate to my career is priceless.
– Kayon Murray-Johnson
An educator at her very core, Dr. Kayon Murray-Johnson has so far enjoyed fifteen plus years, successfully training and facilitating diverse adult learners; she currently serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island. Within the broad field of adult education, she has worked in adult and higher education, in vocational and technical education and in corporate settings in the United States and the Caribbean.
A significant part of her life and work has included professional development for educators, best practices for academic writing, and instructional design. Recently, a large part of her research agenda has focused on effective strategies for facilitating dialogues on racial/ethnic difference. She remains humbled and blessed in sharing this work—its major study was nominated for the outstanding dissertation award at Texas State University and more recently (as a published article), it earned the 2019 research award in diversity and inclusion from the POD Network (North American association of faculty developers). As she remains passionate about integrating her faith and her scholarship, elements of her work now point toward researching issues around the pedagogy of forgiveness.
Although her work with adults has occurred in multiple contexts, Dr. Murray-Johnson’s goal has remained the same: to use pedagogical best practices and positive affirmation as tools that would inspire and motivate learners, and to bridge the gap between challenges they face with content, and their desired goals. She always looks forward to new and exciting teaching and research opportunities, to traveling and to spending quality time with family and friends.
