2025
CEO/Founder
Linda F. Rhone
Four Decades of Transformative Work
A Labor of Love
within the Field of Education
West Virginia University, EdD (Curriculum and Instruction--2008)
S. University of Sheffield, PhD (Social Justice Education--2003)
University of Kansas studied in residence for PhD (Foundations of Education) (1996-1999)
https://sites.google.com/view/dr-linda-f-rhone
healinglearningleading@gmail.com
lindarhone3@gmail.com
(316) 640-0804
Books by Linda F. Rhone
Educators, Community Organizers, Faith-Based Organizations, and Nonprofits.
Workshops Are Available In-Person and Online.
Dr. Rhone's books available at:
https://payhip.com/DrLindaFRhone
Bookings for Workshops:
healinglearningleading@gmail.com
(316) 640-0804
On April 4, Dr. Linda F. Rhone, executive director of TRIO Student Support Services/College Readiness, Retention, and Graduation Programs, will receive the MO-KAN-NE (Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska) Achievers Award in Kansas City, Missouri at the annual conference. The MO-KAN-NE Achievers Award honors individuals who are outstanding former TRIO/GEAR UP participants, who have received recognition within his/her profession, or had outstanding academic achievement. They are also a person who has made a significant civic, community or professional contribution.
Dr. Linda Rhone’s career extends more than thirty-five years in academia with several full-time faculty appointments in the field of teacher education. She transitioned her extensive experience as a K-12 teacher in marginalized communities, community college instructor of social sciences for four years, and university education professor for more than 15 years to currently managing the multi-million-dollar TRIO Student Support Services federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Rhone went from assistant professor to executive director and still teaches today as adjunct professor in the graduate program at Wichita State in the College of Applied Studies and as adjunct professor in the Graduate Teacher Education Workshop program in the College of Education at Friends University.
Rhone’s experience also includes her role as lead research assistant on the $1,000,000 federal grant for Professional Development at the University of Kansas. On the Senate Floor in Topeka, Kansas, Rhone’s work to establish the Wichita Teacher’s Inquiry Group with a grant from the Kansas Health Foundation (a university and public-school partnership) was acknowledged by Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau. As the president and founder of the Kansas Teacher Inquiry Group, Rhone has transformed lives of the teachers who learned how to effectively teach populations of marginalized groups and the students who were taught by them.
Dr. Rhone holds a Ph.D. in social justice education and a Doctor of Education in curriculum and instruction. Rhone attended the University of Sheffield, the University of Kansas, West Virginia University and California State University-Los Angeles for graduate school. She earned her undergraduate degree from Wichita State. Rhone is a proud former TRIO participant.
Rhone’s platform in TRIO Student Support Services is an opportunity to continue to advocate for social justice and develop change agents. Rhone says that none of this would have been possible without the guidance of her mentors, the late Drs. James Rhatigan and Deema de Silva. The MO-KAN-NE Achievers Award further serves as a source of pride in the knowledge that MO-KAN-NE continues to make a difference in the lives of thousands of first-generation and low-income students throughout the MO-KAN-NE region and the United States.
Graduate-Level Courses:
• Social Foundations of Education
• Philosophy and Ethics of Education
• Curriculum Theory and Practice
• Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice
• Educational Leadership for Equity
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Trauma-Informed and Healing-Centered Education
• Advanced Seminar: Paulo Freire and Democratic Learning
Undergraduate-Level Courses:
• Introduction to Education
• Educational Psychology
• Multicultural Education
• Schools and Society
• Diversity and Inclusion in Education
• Human Growth and Development
• Contemporary Issues in Education
• Classroom Management and Motivation
Public Institutions: Universities, community colleges, K–12 schools.
Private Institutions: Wilkerson's Academy, Ribet Academy, The Independent School, consulting with independent/faith-based schools.
Community/Nonprofit: Partnerships with organizations advancing equity, trauma-informed care, and resilience (RESTORE-A Renewal for Women), Los Angeles, CA.
Written and submitted/non funded/Community Foundation, Anti-Bullying Project, $50, 000.00 (2009).
Funded:
Federal Grants: Multimillion-dollar TRIO SSS grants - $5 million (2020–2025; 2025–2030).
Foundation & Private Grants: Education, resilience, and social justice–focused funding $30,000.00
WORKSHOPS/STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Social Justice Practices, Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, February 1st & 2nd, 2019.
Social Justice within a Multicultural Framework. Friends University, Wichita, Kansas Fall 2009-present.
Systemic Bully Behavior at School. Newman University, Western Kansas, June 12 & 13, 2009.
Systemic Bully Behavior at School. Newman University, March 13 & 14, 2009.
Systemic Bully Behavior at School. Professional Development for administration and faculty.
Harpers Ferry Middle School, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia-2005.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS (present)
Member, American School Counselor Association (2025)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS (past)
Member, Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed
Member, Society of Philosophy and History of Education, 2010-2011
Reviewer, Multicultural Review, 1997-2011
Member, American Educational Studies Association (AESA), 1997-2000
Member, Butts Lecture Committee, American Educational Studies Association (AESA), 1997-1998
Scholar, Holmes Scholar Partnership (National Organization), 1996-1999
Fellow, Kansas Ethnic Minority, 1997-1999
Member, American Educational Research Association (AERA), 1997-1998
Board Member, Restore (A Renewal Center for Women, Inc.), Location: Los Angeles, CA, 1994-1995
Panelist, West Virginia Minority/Black Education Reform, 2006-2007
HONORS AND AWARDS
Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska (MO-KAN-NE) Achievers Award for 2024
Wichita Business Journal, Diversity and Inclusion Award, 2023
Certificate of Appreciation, University System of Maryland, Faculty Initiative Committee for Contribution to Rethinking and Relearning Diversity: From Conflict to Inclusion, 2006
Nominee, Outstanding Faculty Member – Order of the Purple at Butler County Community College, 2000
Recipient, American Educational Research Association, stipend for conference research workshop, 1999
Nominee, American Educational Studies Association-Editorial Advisory Council, 1998
Recognition, Wichita State University, Student Support Services, high academic achievement in graduate studies, 1996
Proclamation, for Development and Implementation of a Student Leadership Program, Mayor's Office-(Emanuel Clever) Kansas City Missouri School District, 1993
Outstanding Young Women of America, 1991
Linda Rhone Archives - Newman University Magazine
Source: Newman University Magazine
https://share.google/EmLJPGejvC3044BNU
Kansas/Wichita Teacher Inquiry Group
Kansas Health Foundation
Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies
Do Teachers unknowingly Bully their students?
https://www.kmuw.org/education/2013-08-08/do-teachers-perpetuate-bullying
Dr. Linda F. Rhone, Executive Director of TRIO Student Support Services at Wichita State University and Graduate Teacher Education Workshop Faculty member at Friends University, was featured in the August 2020 issue of Urban Focus Business Leaders Magazine as one of the Top 30 Business Leaders and Innovators for 2020.
A scholar-practitioner grounded in the liberatory tradition of Paulo Freire, Dr. Rhone has devoted her career to transforming educational spaces through dialogue, dignity, and social justice. She has taught educators throughout Kansas to examine inequitable systems critically and to reimagine classrooms as spaces of healing, reflection, and empowerment.
With grant support from the Kansas Health Foundation and the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies, Dr. Rhone established the Wichita Teacher Inquiry Group (WTIG), the only initiative of its kind in the region. WTIG convened educators in cultural circles to examine systemic, cultural, direct, and indirect bullying not merely as isolated behavior, but as a social justice issue embedded within institutional and community contexts. The initiative strengthened cultural competence and advanced transformative teaching and learning practices across educational settings.
In recognition of her statewide leadership and impact, Dr. Rhone was formally congratulated at the Kansas State Capitol through Senate Resolution No. 1768 for her work addressing bullying in schools, workplaces, and communities.
Her scholarship and lived experience converge in her memoir, Thriving Through Trauma: A Journey to Healing, revised and released in late 2025. In this deeply reflective work, Dr. Rhone explores intergenerational childhood trauma through a social justice lens, inviting readers to rethink and re-language traumatic life experiences. The memoir moves beyond survival narratives toward resilience, faith-centered healing, and transformative growth.
Across K–12 education, higher education, and community leadership, Dr. Rhone’s work affirms a central conviction: trauma can be named, systems can be examined, and individuals and communities can thrive.
