Faculty Profile for Dr. Khalid Arar

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Khalid H. Arar, Ph.D. is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Education and Community Leadership, School Improvement Doctoral Program, College of Education at Texas State University. His international and comparative research scholarship is rooted at the nexus of social justice, equity, and diversity in educational leadership and policy. His research interests contribute to the scholarship of social justice leadership and policy, more specifically to the area of refugee welcome education. For the past two decades, he has conducted studies in the Middle East, Europe, the Mediterranean, North America, and the United States. His book: School Leadership for Refugees, was a winner of Routledge’s prestigious choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2021. He was recently awarded the title of Honorary Professor of International Studies at Texas State University, while AERA Division A honored him with the Excellence in Research Award 2023. Prof. Arar has served on amble of international scholarly conference boards; he is on the editorial board of 12 scholarly journals editor-in-chief of Leadership and Policy in Schools, and associate editor of Journal of Educational Administration and History, and Equity in Education and Society.

Teaching Interests

My teaching philosophy is based on the belief that educational leadership, policy, and foundation concepts can and should be integrated to help shape relevant experiences for aspiring researchers and practitioners. Accordingly, my courses incorporate: (a) resources from educational policy sources such as local, state and federal-level statutes, (b) classic and cutting-edge educational leadership research, and (c) multi-disciplinary theoretical and empirical studies. However, selecting quality course materials does not necessarily yield meaningful course experiences. I seek to develop in-course activities that challenge and broaden student perspectives of salient issues, increasing their capacity to critically analyze topics through a variety of methods and conceptual frameworks, and examine their discrete role as empowered actors in the policy processes that shape educational issues at community engagement locally, state, federal, and international levels. As to teaching methods, I taught hybrid, remote and face to face.

Research Interests

Educational leadership and policy mainly in the following four areas: (1) diversity, equity, and inclusion in K-12 and higher education; (2) socio-cultural dimension of educational leadership, (3) social justice leadership and ecological, educational change, (4) career and professional development of educators, (4) immigration, refugee, culture and educational policy while using qualitative, comparative, and international research lens.