Stefanie R. Heinrich is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Studies (EDS) with a secondary concentration in Intercollegiate Athletics Administration (IAA) in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) department in the OU Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education (JRCoE).
Prior to beginning her Ph.D., Stefanie completed a B.A. in Letters with a double major in Religious Studies and an M.Ed. in Educational Studies, both from the University of Oklahoma. Stefanie’s M.Ed. work in Educational Studies focused on expanding PK-12 students’ and teachers’ ability to vocally and visibly embody their LGBTQ+ identities within their educational spaces. This emphasis on LGBTQ+ inclusion and visibility continues into her Ph.D. work, with a secondary focus on sport, gender, sexuality, and race. Stefanie’s dissertation combines many of her research interests in one intersecting phenomenon and will serve as an exploration of college athletes’ experiences with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) while participating in NCAA-sponsored sports at Big XII institutions.
Outside of her own research interests, Stefanie is driven to support undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty in succeeding in their educational and research goals. Through her work with CEDaR and as Director of the JRCoE Graduate Student Advising & Organizing Committee (GSAOC), Stefanie strives to provide the support needed throughout the JRCoE so that the scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners in our College are able to continue to expand on their own work and find whatever success they hope for, in the future.
