Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher is Professor of Higher Education/Community College Leadership and Director of the Office for Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL). She previously served as Associate Head of the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership and Associate Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a PhD in Higher Education Administration with a specialization in Community College Leadership and Educational Evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her teaching, research, and consulting activities largely include psychosocial adjustment and transition of marginalized collegians, transfer, access policies, student development and services at community colleges.

Dr. Zamani-Gallaher is a recipient of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) Senior Scholar Award, is an the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Diamond Honoree and Senior Scholar, the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Council on Ethnic Participation Mildred B. Garcia Senior Exemplary Scholar Awardee. Dr. Zamani-Gallaher was awarded the Community College Research Award by NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and also is a recipient of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) Transfer Catalyst Award. Dr. Zamani-Gallaher is the current executive director of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges and previously was the Director for Research and Scholarship for ACPA.

Dr. Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher research has been published in various journals and scholarly texts, including Equity and Excellence in Education, Higher Education Policy, and New Directions for Student Affairs. She has authored/edited seven books. She is the author/co-author/editor of eight texts. Her most recent titles include Rethinking LGBTQIA Students and Collegiate Contexts: Identity, Policies, and Campus Climate (Routledge); Working with Students in Community Colleges: Contemporary Strategies for Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice (ACPA/Stylus Publishing); and The Obama Administration and Educational Reform (Emerald Group Publishing).