Giving to Learn: Philanthropy in Theory and Practice
Taught by Vida L. Avery
Department of the Center for Civic Leadership

Vida L. Avery holds a Ph.D. in educational policy studies, with a major in higher education and a concentration in philanthropy from Georgia State University, an Ed.S. and M.Ed. in education from Brenau University, and a B.A. in economics with a concentration in business administration from Spelman College. Her professional career spans 20 years in the educational arena with 10 years in the nonprofit sector as a former teacher, adjunct professor, foundation program officer, and a grant writer. Avery’s latest work, Philanthropy in Black Higher Education: A Fateful Hour Creating the Atlanta University System (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), won the Outstanding Publication winner for the 2014 CASE John Grenzebach for Outstanding Research in Philanthropy for Educational Advancement. Her desire to preserve the stories of black nonprofit leaders also led her to coauthor a previous book, Race, Gender and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) that centers on the lives and experiences of female and black leaders of foundations and nonprofits. Currently, Avery lives in Houston, Texas where she is a Resource Development Specialist at the Center for Grants Development, Harris County Department of Education and teaches classes at Rice University, The Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership.