Kristina A Hesbol

KRISTINA A. HESBOL, Ph.D.
Kristina Hesbol is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Denver. Her scholarship focuses on the role of rural educational leaders in disrupting inequitable learning outcomes for traditionally marginalized students and their diverse communities. She is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for Innovative Rural Collaborative Leadership Education (CIRCLE) and founded the Rural Innovative School Leadership Networked Improvement Community (RISL_NIC), a consortium of rural educational thought partners and university research partners across 43 states. She served as Co-Principal Investigator for a three-year Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program Grant and serves currently as the Co-Principal Investigator for I-REECCH, a five-year Javits Grant that interrogates the under-representation of students who identify as Latinx, English Learners, Native American, or economically under-resourced for gifted programs in rural and remote Colorado contexts. Hesbol has taught grades preK-10, served as a principal and an Assistant Superintendent in racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse school districts, and has served as a professor for 15 years. She is the co-author of Contemporary Approaches to Dissertation Development and Research Methods (2016). Her equity-focused scholarship has been published in The Journal of Research on Leadership Education, The Journal of School Leadership, Impacting Education, The International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, and other peer-reviewed journals. She serves as an Associate Editor of The Journal of School Leadership, as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Rural Educator, and as a Review Editor for Leadership in Education.

• Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Loyola University, 2001
• M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, National Louis University, 1992
• BA, Elementary Education, DePauw University, 1972

• Illinois General Administrative Endorsement (Principal)
• Illinois Superintendent Certification
• Elementary Teaching, Standard Certificate
• Superintendent Endorsement

• National Rural Education Association
• University Council on Educational Administration
• American Educational Research Association
• Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate