About the Author
Ivory A. Toldson, Ph.D.,
is a professor of Counseling Psychology at Howard University, the president of Quality Education for Minorities, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Negro Education, and executive editor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Research, published by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.
Dr. Toldson began his career at Southern University, where he was awarded the W.E.B. DuBois Fellowship from the United States Department of Justice for his research on police psychology. He also wrote Black Sheep: When the American Dream Becomes a Black Man’s Nightmare, a novel for which he won the EboNetwork’s Changing Faces award.
Dr. Toldson was previously appointed by President Barack Obama to be the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In this position, he worked with the U.S. Secretary of Education to devise national strategies to sustain and expand federal support to HBCUs.
As contributing education editor for The Root, Dr. Toldson gained a national reputation for debunking myths about African-Americans and challenging what he considers “BS,” or Bad Stats. For most of his research he uses data analytics to contextualize and refute, commonly held notions about barriers to African American progress. He had a prominent role in Janks Morton’s documentary, Hoodwinked. Because of his reputation as a “myth buster,” he routinely interviews for PolitiFact, where he critiqued claims made by Ben Carson, President Jimmy Carter and Sen. John Eichelberger.
Dr. Toldson was dubbed a leader “who could conceivably navigate the path to the White House” by the Washington Post, one of “30 leaders in the fight for Black men,” by Newsweek Magazine, and the “Problem Solver” by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Dr. Toldson has also been featured on MSNBC, C-SPAN2, NPR News and numerous national and local radio stations. In print, his research has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN.com, The New York Times, The National Journal, Essence Magazine, BET.com, The Grio, and Ebony Magazine.
Dr. Toldson was named in The Root 100, an annual ranking of the most influential African-American leaders. He was awarded the: Equity Champion Award from the New York City Department of Education; Outstanding Alumni Award from Penn State Black Alumni Association; an LSU Legend by the LSU Black Alumni Chapter; and one of the Top 25 Forensic Psychology Professors from ForensicsColleges.com. Since 2016, as QEM president, Dr. Toldson has served as principal investigator of 8 National Science Foundation awards, totaling more than $3.2 million, to support capacity building efforts for STEM programs at Minority Serving Institutions.
Dr. Toldson received a B.S. in psychology from Louisiana State University, an M.Ed. in counseling from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Temple University. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Florida Memorial University at their 137th commencement in 2016.
Dr. Toldson is married to Marshella Toldson, and together, they are raising their daughter, Makena, and son, Ivory Kaleb, in Washington, DC.