Doctoral Candidate Brochure: Sydnia I. Tcheurekdjian
Doctoral Dissertation Defense
of
Sydnia I. Tcheurekdjian
For the Degree of
Doctor of Education
Interprofessional Leadership
FROM “HELPING” TO “SEEING SYSTEMS”: ALUMNI NARRATIVES OF A HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMIC CRITICAL SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM AS PRAXI
June 24, 2026
1 p.m.
FROM “HELPING” TO “SEEING SYSTEMS”: ALUMNI NARRATIVES OF A HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMIC CRITICAL SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM AS PRAXIS
The purpose of this study was multifold: to explore how alumni made meaning of their experiences in an academically focused social justice program (SJLP) at a predominantly White institution (PWI) in Northeast Ohio; to understand how they perceive the role the program played in their post-graduation choices, both career-wise and in the way they think; and to examine what role social justice academic courses can have in higher education, particularly in Ohio given current legislation. Narrative inquiry was used as the methodological approach, centering the stories alumni tell about their experiences. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven 2019 SJLP graduates, and senior capstone letters they wrote before graduation were shared with them. Multi-cycle coding was used for data analysis with narrative inquiry as the overarching analytical lens.
Findings showed that participants described the SJLP as playing a significant and lasting role in their lives, thinking, and careers. Six themes emerged. Alumni consistently described a shift from viewing social justice as charity-based helping to a systemic, structural understanding. They carried a social justice lens into diverse professional fields, including healthcare, STEM, corporate, nonprofit, and tech. They described living with tension when presented with contradictory opinions rather than resolving conflict. They practiced solidarity and accompaniment through relational and narrative approaches. They described ongoing vocational discernment, negotiating meaning, stability, and impact. Finally, they described the SJLP as producing an irreversible moral and epistemic formation–an inability to "un-see" structural injustice.
These findings point to the significance of academic social justice programs and the lasting impact they can have on students' thinking and careers–and highlight what is at stake as Ohio Senate Bill 1 threatens the very conditions that made programs like this possible.
About the Candidate
Sydnia I. Tcheurekdjian
M.A. English Language and Literature,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
B.A. English and Secondary Education,
Marquette University
Sydnia started her career teaching in higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she taught Rhetoric and Composition for the first time twenty seven years ago. After completing her M.A., she worked as the Coordinator of Academic Services for the Roberto Hernandez Center at the University of WI-Milwaukee, serving all of the Latino students on campus.
Following this, she moved to Cleveland where she worked at John Carroll University as a Visiting Instructor in the English department. She was then named Director of the Writing Center where she taught and trained multiple graduate students. Following this she taught for a year at the University of San Francisco in the English department. Upon returning to Cleveland, she worked for seven years at John Carroll University, first as an adjunct in the Arrupe Social Justice Scholars program, and then as its Director.
She then stepped down and has worked as an independent consultant for various small and large organizations, including the Smithsonian Institute in Panama, Google DeepMind, and various local and national schools and universities.
Doctoral Dissertation Committee
Director
Tricia Niesz, Ph.D.
Professor
Cultural Foundations of Education
School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies
College of Education, Health, and Human Services
Members
Natasha Levinson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Cultural Foundations of Education
School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies
College of Education, Health, and Human Services
Elizabeth Kenyon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Early Childhood Education
School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies
College of Education, Health, and Human Services
Graduate Faculty Representative
Matthew Hollstein, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Early Childhood Education
School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies
College of Education, Health, and Human Services