Dr. Holcomb-McCoy is the Dean of the School of Education and a Distinguished Professor at American University (AU). An American Counseling Association (ACA) Fellow, Dr. Holcomb-McCoy has written extensively and is the author of the best-selling book (including a revised edition) School Counseling to Close Opportunity Gaps: A Social Justice and Antiracist Framework for Success (Corwin Press) and the recent edited book, Antiracist Counseling in Schools and Communities (ACA Publishing).
In her seven years as Dean, Dr. Holcomb-Mccoy has significantly increased enrollments via the launch of successful online graduate programs and through new partnerships such as becoming the higher education partner with Urban Teachers, a national teacher residency program. In addition, she founded AU’s Summer Institute on Education, Equity and Justice, and the AU Teacher Pipeline Project, including an early childhood educator stackable credentialing partnership with Trinity Washington University, and Martha’s Table, a DC-based non-profit organization.
Prior to leading the School of Education at AU, she served as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs campus-wide and Vice Dean of Academic Affairs in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University, where she launched the Johns Hopkins School Counseling Fellows Program and the $25M Faculty Diversity Initiative. Dr. Holcomb-Mccoy has also been an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services at the University of Maryland College Park and Director of the School Counseling Program at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
A decorated scholar, she has written more than 100 publications, including articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and white papers. From 2014 to 2016, she served as a consultant to former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative, a program dedicated to supporting first-generation students make it to and through college. Dr. Holcomb-Mccoy holds her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in Counseling and Counselor Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
