Joel Runnels
- Group:Board
Joel Runnels
Director
Joel completed his Ph.D. at the University of North Dakota’s Educational Foundations and Research Department. His dissertation, Dr. Andrew Foster’s Contributions to Deaf Education in Africa: The Ghana Years (1957-1962), explores how post-colonial Ghanaian and American collaboration created a scalable, sustainable African-run model of service delivery for marginalized communities across the Continent.
Joel conducted his dissertation research as a U.S. Fulbright Graduate Student at the University of Ghana, between 2017 and 2018, and again as a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Ghana in 2020 (pre-COVID). While in Ghana, he partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Accra and members of the Deaf Community to engage traditional and social media about the need to implement Ghana’s Inclusive Education Policy and Disability Act. In response, Al Jazeera and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation featured stories and candid discussions about Ghanaians with disabilities on TV, radio, print, and digital media.
Prior to doing his doctorate, Joel served as Chief of Party on the USAID-funded Expanding Access to Education for the Deaf, project in Kenya. He holds graduate degrees from The University of Tennessee and Lewis & Clark College. He is fluent in American Sign Language, Ghanaian Sign Language, Kenyan Sign Language, and Kiswahili.