Rate My Professor Joana Célia dos Passos

Joana Célia dos Passos is a professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), where she has taught for approximately 39 years, including 29 years in higher education. She earned her master’s degree in Education from UFSC in 1997 and her doctorate in Education from the same institution in 2010, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She previously served as coordinator of the Pedagogy course and director of the Center of Education Sciences at UFSC. In 2022, she was appointed vice-rector of UFSC, becoming the first Black woman to hold the position, and resigned from the role in February 2026. She coordinates the Cátedra UNESCO Antonieta de Barros: Educação para a Igualdade Racial e Combate ao Racismo at UFSC and is a researcher affiliated with groups including Alteritas: Diferença, Arte e Educação, the Núcleo de Estudos da Violência (NUVIC), and the Instituto de Estudos de Gênero (IEG). She teaches in the Graduate Program in Education (PPGE) and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Human Sciences (PPGICH) at UFSC. Her research focuses on education and racial relations, with emphasis on affirmative actions and the Black population. She has consulted for UNESCO and the UNDP on youth and adult education policies and coordinated the Saberes da Terra Program at SECAD/MEC from 2004 to 2008. She is a member of networks such as the Red Interuniversitaria Educación Superior y Pueblos Indígenas y Afrodescendentes en América Latina (RED ESIAL), the Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores Negros (ABPN), the Comitê Científico do Centro de Estudos da Sociedade, Universidade e Ciência (SOU Ciência) at UNIFESP, and coordinates the Red de Investigaciones Afrolatinoamericanas (RIALA). In 2022, she received the Prêmio Mulheres Brasileiras Fazendo a Diferença from the U.S. Consulate and Embassy. She is recognized as an organic intellectual of the Black movement in Brazil.

Joana Célia dos Passos has contributed to key publications on topics including racial relations in academia after affirmative actions, educational inequalities for the Black population in youth and adult education (EJA), ethnic-racial relations in teacher training curricula, and the impact of affirmative actions on Brazilian higher education curricula. Her work also addresses decolonial perspectives, field education, and the cultural heritage of Afro-Brazilians. She has held roles in policy formulation and extension projects related to education for ethnic-racial relations and has participated in national and international academic and activist networks focused on racial equality and social justice.

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