Dr. Parker is the Chair of the Leadership in Education Department and Professor of Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her research focuses on race and higher education, and Dr. Parker has several published works on both subjects. Dr. Parker was awarded the 2020 Presidential Medal Honorable Mention at the Association for the Study of Higher Education and currently serves on the editorial board for the Review of Higher Education and the American Educational Research Journal. She lives in Dorchester with her teenage daughter.