Promise Team- John A. Oliver, Ph.D.
Dr. John Oliver, Senior Research Analyst, and host of “Deep Dive with Dr. John.”
In February, The Kalamazoo Promise welcomed a new team member, to foster research in the field of education that supports The Promise and, its mission to meet scholars where they are. Let’s meet John Oliver, Ph.D., Senior Research Analyst. Affectionally known as “Dr. John.”
Dr. John, originally from Lansing, MI, is a proud graduate of Everett High School (home of the Vikings and alumnus Ervin “Magic” Johnson). He graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and earned his bachelor’s degree with a major in Psychology.
“Morehouse set me on a trajectory for where I am now,” Dr. John said. “It was significant in my professional and educational journey, and my desire to impact each community in which I live.”
Dr. John’s initial goal was always to be an educator. While in Atlanta, he worked with communities and organizations within schools as a tutor and mentor. His goal after graduation was to return to his community and implement what he learned and experienced, to serve youth in his hometown of Lansing.
“I loved Atlanta. It was great. I accomplished a lot while I was there. I also desired for Lansing to benefit from my skills and experiences. I wanted to see things that I did in Atlanta implemented in my hometown. There was a calling to go back home, and when I arrived, I started teaching.”
Dr. John and his mentor and advisor, Dr. Maenette Benham.
During that time he realized, that in order to make the change he wanted to see happen within schools, he would need a higher level of credentialing. That realization led to his teaching certification and master’s degree in K-12 Administration, from Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, which prepared him for school leadership.
Although this seemed like enough, Dr. John recognized that there was still a barrier present, that was hindering the progress that he wanted to see in the community and schools he worked in.
In 2010, he received his doctorate degree from Michigan State University in K-12 Administration with an emphasis on Leadership Development. Initially, Dr. John planned to return to the K-12 educational system. However, during his time at MSU, he developed an interest in research and community development. He shifted his focus and began working as a Research Assistant alongside his mentor and advisor, Dr. Maenette Benham. As a doctoral assistant, he worked on the evaluation team for The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
“We traveled to 11 communities across the country to evaluate programs that the Kellogg Foundation had funded. The initiative we were working on was called ‘Kellogg Leadership for Community Change (KLCC).’ That was purposefully looking at how communities were involved in change work through education.”
Sankofa Shule Students Study Tour of the Nile, 1999
During the evaluation process, Dr. John was able to learn about evaluation, specifically, how to evaluate change processes and leadership development programs. His mentor, Dr. Benham, provided insight of the importance of including the voice of the participant in evaluations. Dr. John learned how to view evaluation from a lens that valued diversity of thought, experience, ability, gender, age, and other intersectionalities. He learned what to evaluate and how to involve processes for communities and the organizations involved in community building and leadership development processes.
“Seeing the impact that was happening in those communities, I was like, ‘wow this is really hitting the mark of what I want to do in schools, but it’s happening at a university level.’”
The goal was to work as a professor to help shape students become teachers, assist teachers to become principals, and principals to be superintendents. Specifically, making change by working with leaders in schools and in communities.
“I wanted to help shape, smooth, and polish new school leaders. I wanted them to make ripples of change in their schools and communities. And I wanted them to transform into school leaders who were gems for their communities.”
Dr. John credits his experiences in his educational journey in helping him understand how systems work, how institutions work, and how both could work better to benefit the people in the community.
“Being inside those spaces gave me insight of what happens. People say, ‘you see how the sausage is made.’ You see the inner workings of what happens in policies and bureaucracies, and how those initiatives work or don’t work, and how they impact or not impact the communities that they were supposed to.”
“I’m here at the table. I know how this works. When I hear and see things that are done, then it gives me insight on how to call it out, how to change, and how to address it to have that impact shift.”
Dr. John comes to our team with a rich background in education, having taught in various schools, some of which he attended. He was once the Assistant Professor of K-12 Administration and Leadership at Texas State University.
Wanting to raise his daughter in his home state, he moved to Kalamazoo, MI, where he served as Senior Director of Qualitative Evaluation for Communities in Schools (CIS). During his time at CIS, he assessed what methods the organization were taking to serve their students and connect them to resources so they can achieve in life and beyond.
As Senior Research Analyst at The Promise, Dr. John focuses more on the individual rather than percentages.
“My role here is to learn from the quantitative data and apply a qualitative approach. That means take it from numbers, figures and graphs, to more of a narrative. Getting there through focus groups, the 1-on-1 interviews and trying to get granular stories rather than aggregated data.”
Specifically, his work consists of looking at impacts of COVID-19 on enrollment for students from 2020 & 2021 graduating classes, students who have started a post-secondary experience and stopped out and haven’t completed yet, and males of color with an emphasis on Black males in post-secondary education.
“I want to unpack those areas and dive deeper into the personal experiences of our scholars.”
“Deep Dive with Dr. John” is a podcast at The Promise hosted by Dr. John himself. This podcast provides opportunity for Promise Scholars, Alumni, and community members to come and share their story and journey to inspire, inform, and connect members of the Kalamazoo community.
Dr. John, his wife Dr. Michele, and daughter Joelle.
“There is a power of people in the places that they live and learning from the stories they tell about their personal experience.”
When he is not at The Promise, Dr. John enjoys being with his family, spinning with his wife, listening and creating music, playing golf, photography, and planting flowers and tending to his garden.
“I’m constantly in my yard planting, seeing the beauty in it, seeing that I helped to bring that together and have a part in it that makes it pop.”
Above all else, Dr. John enjoys being in the comfort of his home.
“I’m a homebody and I love it. I embrace it. My home is comfortable, it’s welcoming, it’s safe, and it’s beautiful. All the things I would want to do elsewhere, I find and have found ways to bring it home.”
We are pleased to welcome Dr. John Oliver to The Kalamazoo Promise Team, and we look forward to the work he will continue to do!