Charmaine L . Wijeyesinghe
Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe, Ed.D. has studied, consulted, and written in the area of social justice education and organizational change for almost 40 years. Dr. Wijeyesinghe’s professional background includes over 13 years in student affairs administration, including serving as Staff Associate to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Assistant Dean of Students, and Assistant University Ombudsperson at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Dean of Student at Mount Holyoke College. She was National Program Consultant for the National Conference for Community and Justice, where she developed social justice programs, and trained staff and board members of 62 regional offices around the country.
Dr. Wijeyesinghe is currently an independent consultant and author who addresses the areas of organizational development, identity development, and social justice, working primarily with colleges and universities around the country. She has delivered over 140 lectures and programs at national conferences addressing race, identity, and intersectionality in higher education including NCORE, ACPA, ISPRC, NAME, and the Teachers College Round Table.
Dr. Wijeyesinghe has published articles and book chapters on Multiracial identity, racial identity and conflict resolution practice, the evolution of social identity models, and intersectionality. She co-edited (with Bailey W. Jackson) and contributed to "New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development: A Theoretical and Practical Anthology" (2001) and "New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development: Integrating Emerging Frameworks, 2nd edition" (2012), both published by NYU Press. She edited and contributed to "New Directions for Student Services: Enacting Intersectionality in Student Affairs" (Jossey-Bass, 2017), and "The Complexities of Race: Identity, Power, and Justice in an Evolving America" (NYU Press, 2021). Due in part to her co-edited (with Marc Johnston-Guerrero) volume "Multiracial Experiences in Higher Education: Contesting Knowledge, Honoring Voice, and Innovating Practice" (Stylus, 2021), Dr. Wijeyesinghe shared (with Johnston-Guerrero) the award for innovation, bestowed by the Multiracial Network of ACPA. She served as faculty in residence of the MRN for the 2021-2022 year. Her doctoral work on Multiracial adults, completed in 1992, yielded one of the first models of Multiracial identity development which was adopted into the anti-bias curriculum of the Anti Defamation League.
Dr. Wijeyesinghe served on the Editorial Board of the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity and was the inaugural recipient of the NCORE Equity and Social Justice Award for Scholarship in 2017. Dr. Wijeyesinghe presents programs on writing and publishing for social justice at colleges, universities, and conferences and mentors emerging scholars in the nuances of scholarship and publication. In 2024, Dr. Wijeyesinghe was selected as a Diamond Honoree of ACPA in recognition of her outstanding contributions to knowledge and student affairs practice.
Phone: 518-221-6731
Address: 23 Leahey Avenue, South Hadley MA 01075
Dr. Wijeyesinghe is currently an independent consultant and author who addresses the areas of organizational development, identity development, and social justice, working primarily with colleges and universities around the country. She has delivered over 140 lectures and programs at national conferences addressing race, identity, and intersectionality in higher education including NCORE, ACPA, ISPRC, NAME, and the Teachers College Round Table.
Dr. Wijeyesinghe has published articles and book chapters on Multiracial identity, racial identity and conflict resolution practice, the evolution of social identity models, and intersectionality. She co-edited (with Bailey W. Jackson) and contributed to "New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development: A Theoretical and Practical Anthology" (2001) and "New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development: Integrating Emerging Frameworks, 2nd edition" (2012), both published by NYU Press. She edited and contributed to "New Directions for Student Services: Enacting Intersectionality in Student Affairs" (Jossey-Bass, 2017), and "The Complexities of Race: Identity, Power, and Justice in an Evolving America" (NYU Press, 2021). Due in part to her co-edited (with Marc Johnston-Guerrero) volume "Multiracial Experiences in Higher Education: Contesting Knowledge, Honoring Voice, and Innovating Practice" (Stylus, 2021), Dr. Wijeyesinghe shared (with Johnston-Guerrero) the award for innovation, bestowed by the Multiracial Network of ACPA. She served as faculty in residence of the MRN for the 2021-2022 year. Her doctoral work on Multiracial adults, completed in 1992, yielded one of the first models of Multiracial identity development which was adopted into the anti-bias curriculum of the Anti Defamation League.
Dr. Wijeyesinghe served on the Editorial Board of the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity and was the inaugural recipient of the NCORE Equity and Social Justice Award for Scholarship in 2017. Dr. Wijeyesinghe presents programs on writing and publishing for social justice at colleges, universities, and conferences and mentors emerging scholars in the nuances of scholarship and publication. In 2024, Dr. Wijeyesinghe was selected as a Diamond Honoree of ACPA in recognition of her outstanding contributions to knowledge and student affairs practice.
Phone: 518-221-6731
Address: 23 Leahey Avenue, South Hadley MA 01075
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Using in-depth phenomenological interviewing, participants were asked how their life experiences led them to choose a particular racial identity, how they experienced the world in light of their chosen identity, and the meaning that they made of their choice of identity given their actual biological heritage. The results were reported via in-depth, first person narratives taken from the interview transcripts and analysis of themes that emerged when participants were compared across chosen racial identity, gender, and age groups. Given the paucity of research on Multiracial people at the time of the study, the experiences of participants were compared with themes from models of Black and White identity development, and the literature on transracial adoption. Select early models of Bi-racial identity development are also used in the analysis of the data.
The factors reported as having the most influence on choice of racial identity (Black, White, or Bi-racial) were past and current cultural affiliations, early experiences and socialization, and physical appearance. Additional factors that played a lesser role in the identity development process included political experiences or orientations, the social and historical context related to race at a given time, the racial heritage or ancestry of the participant, and a participant’s sense of connection to other social identities such as gender, faith, age, and ethnicity. The model based on these factors was adopted into the anti-bias curriculum of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).