Adrienne Dixson, associate professor of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, has been appointed a Southern Education Foundation (SEF) Fellow for Innovation and Change. Her three-year term will begin this fall. Dixson will be part of an inaugural group, and this year’s cohort will bring together emerging leaders from a variety of sectors to advance creative solutions and change in education from pre-k to higher education, according to the SEF.

The SEF Fellows for Innovation and Change program is designed to engage small and diverse groups of professionals interested in advancing educational solutions on behalf of low-income and minority students in every sector. Through the program, SEF hopes to strengthen the pipeline of talented professionals who will play an important role in achieving improvements in education through innovative research, policy development, and program review.

Those asked to serve include scholars, research scientists, policy analyst, institutional leaders, government officials, community organizers, and non-profit advocates. Ideal fellows, according to the SEF, are "talented accomplished professionals with promising trajectories and a keen sense of how they can contribute to improving the most critical educational challenges of our time" and emerging leaders in their respective fields.

Dixson also serves as the interim director of the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities.