Prior to joining Extension, Jeffrey worked internationally in the capacities of K-12 art educator and Administrator in the People’s Republic of China and in the United Arab Emirates. Before his time abroad, Jeffrey taught visual art domestically in Iowa; served as a coordinator of undergraduate research and as an ESL instructor at several community colleges in North Carolina and New Jersey; and held various roles as an Assistant Professor of Education at Hartwick College in upstate New York.

He holds a B.A. in Visual Art from Morehouse College, a M.A. in Art Education from The University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in Education Policy from The University of Maryland-College Park with a concentration in Sociological & Philosophical Foundations of Education.

Jeffrey grew up on Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation land presently called Durham, North Carolina. He is an artist, educator, and minister whose interdisciplinary interests include the moral lives of children, a pedagogy of PLAY, and education for democratic citizenship.

He enjoys exploring domestic and international fringe religious, ethnic, and civic groups who cultivate collective identity narratives through social norms that prize novelty, individual autonomy and play.