EMU Today

Dr. Mustafa (she/her) is a scholar and clinical practitioner. Before transitioning to higher education, she worked in the domestic and global public health sectors. She provided clinical support services to pregnant adolescents in Southeastern Michigan and conducted research on improving social support services for pregnant people in rural Ghana.  

Transitioning to a career in higher ed, Dr. Mustafa’s research focuses on how Black tenure-track faculty at predominately White research one institutions describe and enact their personal and professional commitments while navigating their institutions’ priorities and reward structure. Through her research, Dr. Mustafa amplifies Black faculty’s stories of brilliance and resistance. 

Dr. Mustafa also demonstrates a deep commitment to enhancing the academic and social progress of marginalized students at EMU. Her approach to teaching is to bring her whole self and intersecting identities into the classroom. In bringing her whole self into the classroom, she teaches about social inequality and injustice from a place of wellness, wholeness, and joy.

Dr. Mustafa is the resident guest expert on EMU’s “Enlightened U,” a podcast that addresses mental health topics. Her expertise in college student mental health draws from her work as a licensed clinical social worker and co-owner of Integrative Empowerment Group, a Ypsilanti-based group private practice focused on serving marginalized populations.

In her spare time, she can be found spending time with her family, cooking for her rescue dog-ter, Bailey, and roaming around Costco.