Shanice Robinson-Blacknell

“The best thing you can do for a person is to inspire them. That's the best currency you can offer inspiration. So, when a person can

rely on you for that, that empowers them in every realm of their life. Being inspired. It empowers them in their relationships, in their

business, in their art, and their creativity. It empowers them because, without inspiration, you're dry.”

Dr. Shanice Robinson is a powerful voice in education, a culturally grounded visionary, and a justice-driven scholar who has dedicated her life to transforming institutions through love, truth, and liberation. Rooted in Richmond, California—where she was raised by an early childhood educator and a police officer—Dr. Robinson’s life journey has been shaped by both the promises and contradictions of justice. From that soil, she has risen as a leader who not only navigates systems but boldly reimagines them in the service of healing and freedom.

Formerly the Senior Director of Culture and Social Justice at San Francisco State University, Dr. Robinson led with purpose and vision, stewarding transformational work across centers such as the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center, Queer & Trans Resource Center, Women’s Center, EROS, and the campus Art Gallery—spaces she reimagined as sanctuaries of community power, resistance, and restorative justice. In 2024, she made the courageous decision to step away from administration to fully embrace her calling as a full-time educator, teaching across three institutions—San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, and Diablo Valley College—as well as within juvenile halls and county jails through carceral education programs.

Her teaching philosophy is grounded in urban storytelling and culturally responsive praxis. She brings a liberatory framework to classrooms across disciplines, including Africana Studies, Ethnic Studies, Equity and Social Justice, and Social Work. Her courses—ranging from Critical Race Theory and Black Consciousness, Intersectionality in Social Work, Law in the Black Community, Curriculum and Praxis, to Anti-Racism and Global Poverty—invite students, particularly those who are first-generation, system-impacted, and historically excluded, to see their lived experiences as valid, powerful sources of knowledge.

Dr. Robinson’s journey began in early childhood education as a Head Start teacher, then expanded to high school classrooms in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, where she taught U.S. History, Government, and Economics at John F. Kennedy High School, De Anza High School, and Greenwood Academy. Throughout her career, she has remained unwavering in her commitment to dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline and centering Black youth as visionaries of their futures. 

She holds a B.A. in Africana Studies, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Ethnic Studies, an M.A. in Equity and Social Justice, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership—all from San Francisco State University. Currently, she is in her final semester of Paralegal Studies, a program she pursued to strengthen her advocacy for wrongfully convicted and system-impacted individuals, affirming her belief in the power of interdisciplinary tools to dismantle systems of oppression. Her groundbreaking dissertation, “Shawty Wanna Be A Thug? How Black Men Successfully Exit the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” introduced the Black Urban Storytelling framework—a radical methodology inspired by Tupac Shakur’s Thug Life philosophy and Critical Race Theory. It centers Black men’s lived narratives as strategies for decriminalizing identity, cultivating resilience, and building pathways to liberation.

In 2025, Dr. Robinson-Blacknell is preparing to release a series of impactful works:

• The Gangster’s Scholar: Love Behind Bars, a memoir exploring her personal and scholarly journey through love, incarceration, and freedom—a story featured in KQED’s Resilience Series and the Richmond Standard.
• Seeds of a Dream: The Magic in Me, a children’s book crafted to affirm the brilliance and beauty of Black children, is scheduled for publication in September 2025.
• Her academic manuscript, Black Urban Storytelling and Thuglife Philosophy: A Radical Framework for Reclaiming Black Male Identity and Success in Educational Spaces,  will be featured in Reclaiming Space in Fall 2025.
• She is also completing her next book, Thuglife University: A Caged Nation, which is set to be published in late 2025 or early 2026.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Robinson is the co-founder of The Soul of SF State, a grassroots collective dedicated to amplifying Black joy, healing, and resistance across the Bay Area. She has served as co-chair of the Black Faculty and Staff Association, University Academic Senator, and faculty advisor to several student-led justice organizations. Her work has rippled far beyond academia, touching lives, shifting mindsets, and building community-centered pathways to freedom. At her core, Dr. Robinson is a mother, a partner, a truth-teller, and a healer. She is the proud mother of two sons, DeOnnie and Byron, and wife to her childhood friend, Joe. Whether she is writing, teaching, organizing, or watching the Warriors courtside, she shows up with fierce authenticity, rooted in joy, love, and purpose. Her story is not just one of professional excellence—it is a call to action. A testament to what it means to lead with heart, to resist with vision, and to teach with the unapologetic belief that freedom is possible. Dr. Robinson is not simply reclaiming space—she is building new worlds where education is a vehicle for healing, justice, and liberation.