Rate My Professor Devon Graves

Devon L. Graves, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Community College Leadership in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. His research focuses on the racial disparities faced by Students of Color in American higher education, particularly uncovering inequities these students encounter in the financial aid process. A product of California’s public education system, he earned his B.A. in Political Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. At NC State, Dr. Graves teaches in the community college leadership doctoral programs and serves as a Faculty Scholar at the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research.

Prior to joining NC State in the 2023-24 academic year, Dr. Graves was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Stanislaus, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Foundation for California Community Colleges. He has made significant contributions to higher education policy, serving as the 44th Student Regent on the University of California Board of Regents from 2017 to 2019, where he chaired the Regents’ Special Committee on Basic Needs and served as vice chair of the Public Engagement and Development Committee. From 2013 to 2017, he was a governor-appointed commissioner on the California Student Aid Commission, chairing the Student Impact Committee that oversaw the Cal Grant, Dream Act, and Middle Class Scholarship programs. Dr. Graves’s research has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Higher Education, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, New Directions for Community Colleges, and the Journal of Student Financial Aid. Key publications include “Financial Aid as Whiteness as Property: Implications for Research and Practice” (The Journal of Higher Education, 2024), “Latinx community college students experiencing financial aid income verification: A critical race analysis” (Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2023), “‘I need to borrow some money’: How Community College Students of Color Experience Punitive Financial Aid Structured Disbursements” (Journal of Student Financial Aid, 2025), “Qualitative Inquiry of Black Presidents’ Perception of Leadership at Rural Community Colleges” (New Directions for Community Colleges, 2025), and “The Procedural Traps and Barriers to Receiving Aid: A Case Study of the Financial Aid Ecosystem in a Hispanic Serving Community College Students” (Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 2023).