Associate Professor of Professional Practice
Wakhisi is an associate professor, professional practice, at the School of Communication at the University of Miami. Wakhisi is the two-time winner of the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award, which she received in 1996 and 2006.
She also is a freelance writer for the South Florida Times, a weekly newspaper that caters to the African-American communities in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties
Wakhisi received a Master of Science degree in journalism (MSJ) from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and English from Mundelein College in Chicago. Her professional background includes serving as a reporter or editor for several daily newspapers, including the Detroit News, the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, the Kansas City Star and The Miami Herald.
She is the former managing editor of the Miami News Service, a professional news organization that was operated by the Graduate Program in Professional Journalism. She also is the former director of the Peace Sullivan/James Ansin High School Summer Journalism/New Media Workshop, which takes place annually at the School of Communication.
She is the recipient of a Gannett Foundation travel grant, which supported her research and coverage of African-American men who were invited to move to the Soviet Union in the 1920s. She interviewed the children and grandchildren of these men, many of whom continue to live in the Soviet Union.
Wakhisi also received a School of Communication faculty creative grant, which allowed her to research and report on American journalists finding jobs in the United Arab Emirates, and African Americans living and working as teachers, journalists, public relations and as entrepreneurs primarily in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Wakhisi also participated in a U.S. State Department Grant, which funded training workshops on how journalists can better cover social issues, including HIV-AIDS. She was a co-presenter at workshops in Hyderabad, India, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and in the cities of Multan and Lahore, Pakistan.