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Veronica A. Jones

Associate Professor of Higher Education, University of North Texas-Fort Worth
Chapter Member: Dallas-Fort Worth SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Veronica

Baldwin (publishing under Jones) earned her PhD in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University in 2014. Before starting her career in higher education, she taught in various Texas K-12 school districts for more than 10 years as an English as a Second Language teacher. In the UNT higher education program, Jones teaches courses for masters and doctoral students, including risk management, proseminar and research seminar. Her main research methodology is qualitative, and she utilizes frameworks such as critical discourse analysis to explore structures, policies and practices that influence underrepresented and marginalized communities.

Publications

"The Legal Logic of Whiteness: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Policymakers’ Rhetoric in CRT Legislation" (with Kaleb L. Briscoe). The Journal of Higher Education 96, no. 7 (2025): 1271-1299.

Critically examines the rationales for critical race theory (CRT) legislative bans across 42 states and a total of 66 documents using a CRT framework, particularly whiteness as property. Employs a sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) to reveal how power and racism are reproduced in legal logic, pointing to the relationship between discourse, cognition, and society.

"Contextualizing the Discourse in Anti-CRT Legislation through Faculty Counterstories" (with Kaleb L. Briscoe and Alexis Guess ). Innovative Higher Education (2025): 1-29.

Contextualizes the discourse within anti-CRT legislation through the lens of faculty who utilize the theory in their teaching and research.

"'The House Is on Fire': A Critical Analysis of Anti-CRT Bans and Faculty Experiences" (with Kaleb L. Briscoe). Education Sciences 14, no. 4 (2024): 360.

Examines 40 faculty experiences challenging CRT-ban legislation at a national, state, and institutional level. Presents recommendations for practice and policy that resist the surveillance experienced during this socio-political backlash.

"Challenging the Dominant Narratives: Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Administrators’ Responses to Critical Race Theory Bans" (with Kaleb L. Briscoe). Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 43, no. 3 (2024): 459-480.

Uses semi-structured interviews using Critical Race Methodology (CRM) to make sense of how 40 faculty members challenged the dominant narratives presented by administrators through their responses to CRT bans. Examines how administrators’ responses complicate how faculty make sense of CRT bans.

"Discourse within University Presidents’ Responses to Racism: Revealing Patterns of Power and Privilege" Teachers College Record 121, no. 4 (2019): 1-32.

Analyzes the ways that administrators’ responses to incidents of racism might reinforce the existence of such racist behaviors and affect marginalized students.