Department of Leadership and Educational Studies

Dr. Matthew Thomas-Reid earned a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a M.A.T. in middle grades social studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a B.A. in history from Mars Hill University.

Dr. Thomas-Reid began his nearly 20 year career in education as a middle school social studies teacher in  North Carolina public schools. In his career in K12, he worked with a diverse array of students in a variety of schools, including traditional and magnet programs. Dr. Thomas-Reid was involved in the development of the International Baccalaureate in his former school district and was instrumental in bringing the IB Career Program to the district.

As an interdisciplinary researcher, Dr. Thomas-Reid's areas of research include philosophy of education, gender and sexuality, cultural studies, and disability studies. His current research explores how digital artifacts from platforms like Reddit, TikTok, X, and Instagram reveal the forces shaping polarization in contemporary youth culture and how schools might respond. He is an affiliate faculty member with Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies and has served for the past ten years on the University’s Early Intervention team to help struggling students obtain the resources they need to be successful in college. His community engagement includes developing a program in partnership with Ashe County Schools using chess as a vehicle to foster social, academic, and emotional growth with elementary school students. Dr. Thomas-Reid is the recipient of numerous awards in his career, both in k12 and at the university level. In 2023, he received the Governor’s excellence in teaching award for the Reich College of Education, and in 2020, he was the recipient of the college's Inclusive Excellence Award. In addition, his continued public service to k12 schools won him a Governor’s Volunteer of the Year award for Ashe County, NC.

Thomas-Reid, M., & Bradford, K. (2024). Towards a pedagogy of coming out: Theories in the flesh in an educational leadership classroom. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 20(1), 143–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2024.2432878. 

Thomas-Reid, M. (2025). Queering Mayberry: An exploration of sexuality and gender in The Andy Griffith Show. Routledge.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003475828 . 

Thomas-Reid, M. (2025). We are real: Sexuality, gender and the problem of ontology in US health education classrooms. Health Education Journal. https://doi-org.proxy006.nclive.org/10.1177/00178969251319745