Lori Farmer is the Freshman Studies/Leadership teacher at a Title I high school in Nevada’s Clark County School District. In her role, she helps students transition successfully from middle school to high school by working with them to develop and/or refine leadership skills and character traits that will propel them towards graduation and beyond. A member of the School Organizational Team, Lori also supports and advises the principal regarding developing and carrying out the school plan of operation.
Some might consider Lori a non-traditional educator, as she spent most of her career in the Communications field. However, once she began teaching, she realized that her new career trajectory extended beyond a single classroom. For instance, her aspirations include doing policy work that will help dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, which is a national crisis. As neither her B.A. nor M.A. degree are in education, it was a strategic decision to pursue an Ed.D. in the field of educational leadership. The fact that LMU's Ed.D. is in Social Justice and the program is available online made it the perfect fit for Lori.
Lori’s dissertation, “A Critical Policy Analysis of Anti-Racism Policy Implementation in a PK-12 Public School District,” chaired by Rebecca Stephenson, Ph.D., was a critical policy analysis of anti-racism policy implementation in a PK-12 public school district.
For Lori, it was a great honor to be part of Cohort 18, LMU's first fully online Ed.D. cohort. She believes that they are trailblazers in that sense and consequently, she is confident that the full impact of the Ed.D. program on her life and career remains to be seen. There are doors this degree will open that have not been created, and she looks forward to working with like-minded individuals to effect change in many ways. The Ed.D. program has grounded her, helped her to refine facets of her purpose and given her a solid foundation upon which to build, and the sky is NOT the limit!