
A native of Newport News, Virginia, Krystal Andrews holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Services with a minor in African American Studies, and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Leadership from Old Dominion University. Currently, she is the director of student success in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and is a fourth year as a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . As a practitioner, she has six years of experience in student success and retention programs at both predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that fuels her passion for helping students envision their own success. As a scholar practitioner, she is a member of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA). She has also been a member of the Pan African Network directorate board in various positions since 2013, and currently serves as the chair-elect of the network. Her other professional organization memberships include the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC). Her research interests center on the experiences of Black women graduate students at HBCUs and the persistence of Black student populations across institutional types.