Dr. Tonisha B. Lane

Dr. Tonisha B. Lane is an Associate Professor of Higher Education at Virginia Tech and Program Leader for the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Administration. Her research examines the experiences of underserved populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with a focus on how institutional policies and practices shape access, retention, and success. Her current projects include evaluating efforts to strengthen research infrastructure at HBCUs, exploring factors that support early-career women of color STEM faculty, and understanding how remote modalities expand undergraduate research opportunities in STEM.

Dr. Lane has secured over $10 million in grant funding including support from the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and NASA. She has authored 30 refereed articles and book chapters and delivered nearly 100 national and international conference presentations. Her work appears in leading journals such as the Journal of College Student Development, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Urban Education, and Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering.

She has received numerous honors, including the Pan-African Network Anne S. Pruitt Foundations Award (Class of 2025), ACPA Diamond Honoree (class of 2024), the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Excellence in Research and Creative Scholarship Award (2022), ACPA Emerging Scholar (class of 2018), ACPA Advocate Award (2017), a McKnight Fellowship, and a King-Parks Fellowship. Her scholarship is featured in edited volumes such as The State of Black Women in Higher Education: A Critical Perspective 20 Years Later, The Black Student’s Pathway to Graduate Study and Beyond: The Making of a Scholar, Building Mentorship Networks to Support Black Women: A Guide to Succeeding in the Academy, and Intersectionality and Higher Education: Identity and Inequality on College Campuses.

Dr. Lane earned her Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education from Michigan State University. She has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and student affairs, including prior administrative roles in residence life, multicultural engineering programs, TRIO Student Support Services, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education.