Open a team card for its photograph, affiliations or production contributions where available. Dr. McKee's professional profile below includes expandable appointments, awards, funding, publications and public scholarship.
Creator and Showrunner
Scholarship, public media & civic life
Dr. Malaika McKee
Creator, Showrunner, Principal Investigator and Executive Producer
Malaika McKee is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She was named Chancellor's Fellow in the Office of Public Engagement for 2025–26. Her scholarship asks how the American university understands and practices the scholarship of engagement. She explores that question by building institutional models that are both sites of inquiry and vehicles for public good.
She created Teen Summit 2.0: The Remix, a youth civic debate series produced with Illinois Public Media under permission from BET co-founder and Illinois alumna Sheila Johnson. The series is the flagship of the Communiversity Public Media Project, which she directs. Her framework, Communiversity through Public Media, extends the Black Studies concept of the communiversity to university-licensed public television.
Before joining the College of Education in 2021, she taught African American Studies at Illinois and held appointments at the University of Denver. Earlier, she directed new site development at Jumpstart for Young Children and created the first college-credit program for AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps members.
Research: young people as knowledge producers
McKee's research connects civic engagement, the land-grant mission, youth civic identity, equity and social justice. Her work spans university-community partnerships, Black Studies intellectual history, statistical literacy, hip hop and STEAM learning, and digital humanities approaches to recovering Black women's histories. Race, technology and algorithms, participatory action research, organizational case study, service learning and national service are also central to her program of inquiry.
- How can university-based public media stations serve as sites of civic learning and knowledge production for youth audiences?
- What institutional structures, partnerships and resources sustain university-community media collaborations?
- How does youth-centered civic programming reshape public perceptions of university value?
- How do young people construct civic identity when positioned as knowledge producers rather than recipients?
Public engagement & creative work
With Dr. Steven Culpepper, McKee co-founded the MLK: STAT Lab (Martin Luther King: Statistics), which brings statistical methodology and civil rights history to high school and college students in partnership with Urbana School District 116. With Dr. Ruby Mendenhall, she co-founded the De.SH(ie) Research Lab (Designing Spaces of Hope). She also co-created the Hip Hop Xpress with the late Dr. William Patterson.
Her public media work developed from the Communiversity Partnership sizzle reel with Illinois Soul in April 2024 and the Soul Summit / Teen Summit concept launch in June 2024, through the four-show CYPHER pitch to WILL in August 2024. A Teen Summit sizzle reel and pitch to Sheila Johnson followed in February 2025, with show rundown and production work in October 2025.
Beyond the studio, she connects public scholarship with community conversations, arts programming and international collaboration.
Appointments & education
Appointments and leadership
- Chancellor's Fellow, Office of Public Engagement, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2025–26.
- Director, Communiversity Public Media Project; Creator, Showrunner, Principal Investigator and Executive Producer, Teen Summit 2.0: The Remix, with Illinois Public Media / WILL.
- Assistant Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership (Higher Education), College of Education, Illinois, 2021–present.
- Co-Founder and Co-Principal Investigator, MLK: STAT Lab, with the Department of Statistics, 2019–present.
- Co-Founder, De.SH(ie) Research Lab, with Dr. Ruby Mendenhall.
Previous appointments
- Visiting Assistant Professor, African American Studies, Illinois, 2012–2021.
- Adjunct Professor, Higher Education, Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver, 2009–2011.
- Diversity Faculty Fellow, Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver, 2006–2009.
Education
- Ph.D., Educational Policy and Administration: Higher Education, University of Minnesota, 2006.
- M.Ed., Harvard University, 1998.
- B.A., French and Political Science, Honors Program, University of Minnesota, 1994.
- Visiting Scholar, McGill University, 1993–94; exchange student, Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France, 1993.
Selected honors & awards
- 2025–26: Chancellor's Fellow, Office of Public Engagement, Illinois.
- 2021: Provost's Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement, Faculty and Staff Team Award, for The Hip Hop Xpress Double Dutch Boom Box.
- 2019: University of Illinois System Presidential Initiative: Expanding the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities, for the Hip Hop Xpress, with William Patterson, Adam Kruse and Tiffani Saunders.
- 2019: Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
- 2016: International Data Corporation HPC Innovation Excellence Award for Rescuing Lost History: Using Big Data to Recover Black Women's Lived Experiences, with Ruby Mendenhall, Mark Van Moer, Nicole Brown, Assata Zerai and Karen Flynn.
- 2004: Mathematica Summer Fellowship, Mathematica Policy Research; Community of Scholars Traveling Fellowship, University of Minnesota.
- 2001: Senator Gloria Tanner Training Institute for Future Black Women Leaders of Colorado.
- 2000: Appreciation and Professional Distinction, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, Central Region.
Funding & state appropriations
For 2025–26, the Illinois General Assembly appropriated $680,000 for Teen Summit 2.0 and the Communiversity Public Media Project: $330,000 in program funds through the Fund for Illinois' Future and $350,000 in capital funds through the Build Illinois Bond Fund for renovation of space for the statewide media project. McKee is Principal Investigator.
These are appropriations, not a statement that all funds have been received. The capital allocation is administered through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and remains in process.
Additional support and funded work
- Teen Summit 2.0: support from Sheila Johnson with the University of Illinois Alumni Association, 2025–28; Principal Investigator.
- MLK: STAT Pilot Project, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Illinois, 2024–27; Co-Principal Investigator with Steven Culpepper.
- The Hip Hop Xpress, University of Illinois System Presidential Initiative, 2019; Co-Principal Investigator with Adam Kruse, William Patterson and Tiffani Saunders.
- Afrosonification Project (Black Aesthetic Genius Project), NCSA, 2019–20; Principal Investigator.
- Aliyah in Wonderhood summer workshop, Department of Dance, Illinois, 2019; Co-Principal Investigator with Endalyn Taylor.
- The Odyssey Project, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, and Black Studies Digital Archive / Informatics, iCUBED NSF sub-grant, 2015–18; Principal Investigator.
Selected publications & developing scholarship
Published book chapters
- Yeo, H. T., McKee, M., & Trent, W. (2018). Eyes Theory: A proposed racialization and developmental identity model for understanding concepts of race for international students of color studying in US higher education institutions. In J. Hoffman, P. Blessinger, & M. Makhanya (Eds.), Perspectives on Diverse Student Identities in Higher Education (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 14, pp. 95–112). Emerald. Read via DOI.
- Leonard, J., McKee, M., & Williams, Y. M. (2013). Not “Waiting for Superman”: Policy implications for Black children attending public schools. In J. Leonard & D. B. Martin (Eds.), Beyond the Numbers and Toward New Discourse: The Brilliance of Black Children in Mathematics (pp. 95–120). Information Age.
In preparation
The following projects are developing scholarship, not published works.
- McKee, M. Communiversity through Public Media: A theoretical framework.
- McKee, M., Culpepper, S., Hwang, J., Kim, H., & Hobson, P. Towards a new theory of Statistical Humanism: A reclamation of universities as a new studia humanitatis for civic learning, statistical literacy and public good.
Selected presentations
- McKee, M., & Kuneyl, J. (November 2024). Examining civic engagement in higher education through a revisitation of the land-grant idea at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. ASHE works-in-progress, Minneapolis.
- McKee, M., & Mumm, R. (May 2025). Transformative agriculture: Stories and models from America's land-grant system that inspire civic engagement. National Association of Plant Breeders.
Public scholarship & community collaboration
- Public media appearances on WILL's The 21st Show, February 3, 2025, and WEFT's Higher Ground with Carol and Aaron Ammons, January 25, 2025.
- Panelist for Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Gospel, PBS/WILL at the Virginia Theatre, February 2024.
- Workshop leader, Big Thoughts, Big Dreams, Real Outcomes, Illinois Soul / WILL, June 2024.
- Moderator for Safiya Noble's Algorithms of Oppression, Pygmalion Festival, September 2018.
- Invited presenter, Designing Spaces of Hope, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Transatlantic Friendship Mobility Initiative, Paris, March 2016.
- Invited participant, African Orphan Crops Consortium, 2024, including a Nairobi planning meeting with African Union and UN agricultural scientists in fall 2024; collaboration with Dr. Rita Mumm on democratic storytelling for crop adoption.
- Judge, COZAD New Venture Challenge and Champaign-Urbana International Film Festival, 2024 and 2025.
- Instructor, The Odyssey Project, 2015–18, offering college-credit humanities courses for community members and establishing Odyssey participation in the undergraduate research symposium.
Teaching & advising
Since fall 2021, McKee has taught eleven courses in EPOL and the College of Education, including the Higher Education core courses The College Student (EPOL 563) and Critical Issues in Higher Education (EPOL 565), and the College-wide methods course Methods of Educational Inquiry (CI 550). Her teaching also includes civic engagement and diversity in higher education, and creativity, art and diversity courses co-taught with Professor Endalyn Taylor around the Krannert Center and Krannert Art Museum.
She advises doctoral and master's students in EPOL and has served on doctoral examining committees since 2021. Students connect research with practice through the MLK: STAT Lab and the Teen Summit 2.0 production and curriculum team.
The Safe Haven Audio-Visual Studio
Walt Bowman
Director and Digital Producer
The Safe Haven Studio
Web architecture and digital production. Walt Bowman led the Academic Civic NIL creation lab.
Adam Elshenawi
Creative Team
Academic and Impact Team
Dr. Molly Niesen
Impact Producer
The Backstage Prep curriculum was written by Dr. Malaika McKee in collaboration with Dr. Molly Niesen and doctoral students from the College of Education.
Soomin Nam
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jeongsan Hwang
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Hanna Kim
Research Assistant
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Deidre Weathersby
Confessional doulant
Cast
DJ Silkee (Ja'Naea Modest)
Music Director
Hip Hop Innovation Center (UIUC)
DJ Silkee developed the Musicology portion of the curriculum, bringing music and cultural inquiry into the civic conversation.
Coaches
Maximus Lopez
Coach
Flyover Film Studios
Jennifer Shelby
Supervisory Producer
IPM Connect
D.J. Roach
Video Production Manager
Illinois Public Media
Station Leadership
Lillie Duncanson
Station Leadership
Co-Executive Team, Illinois Public Media (WILL)
John Steinbacher
Station Leadership
Co-Executive Team, Illinois Public Media (WILL)
