About LaToya Owens, PhD

Dr. Owens is a Senior Program Officer of Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation on the Postsecondary Success team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she works as a part of the measurement, learning, and evaluation arm of the postsecondary team to execute a strategy aimed at increasing equitable higher education outcomes for Black, Latino, Indigenous income students using critical methodologies and evaluation frameworks. She was previously the Senior Director of the UNCF Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. There her work largely focused on strengthening institutional career placement and student persistent outcomes as well as institutional effectiveness and strategic planning at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

She has also worked as an instructor of research, measurement, and statistics in the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University. Currently, she volunteers as the student wellness committee lead on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Community Equity Committee, which is dedicated to making data-informed decisions to improve progress toward equity in CMS schools. Overall, her work sits at the intersection of research, policy,  and philanthropy, with a foundational mission to ensure race and gender equity across sectors.

LaToya earned her B.S. in Public Relations and an MPA from Florida A&M University, an M.A. in Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy from New York University, and Ph.D. in Educational Policy with a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Georgia State University.

She has also worked as an instructor of research, measurement, and statistics in the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University. She serves on the Equity Committee for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Community Equity Committee, which is dedicated to making data-informed decisions to improve progress toward equity in CMS schools.  LaToya earned her B.S. in Public Relations and an MPA from Florida A&M University, an M.A. in Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy from New York University, and Ph.D. in Educational Policy from Georgia State University.