ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Bretticca Moody

As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we’re shining the spotlight on our amazing alumni! We’re proud to feature Bretticca, an AAST alumna!

Bretticca Moody: Carrying African American Studies Into Higher Education and Leadership

Bretticca Moody ’10 has carried the perspectives she developed through African American Studies into a career focused on higher education, political engagement, and leadership. A Political Science major and African American Studies minor, Moody credits the program with strengthening her commitment to addressing barriers of access and opportunity for the Black community.

Today, Moody is based in Washington, D.C., where she serves as Assistant Director of Higher Education at the American Federation of Teachers. She earned an M.Ed. in Higher Education from Columbia College and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at North Carolina A&T State University.

Learning to Consider Multiple Perspectives

For Moody, African American Studies changed how she understood the world and the ways people experience it.

The program encouraged her to consider multiple perspectives and recognize that institutions, policies, and social conditions affect people differently. That understanding continues to shape how she approaches questions of access and opportunity.

“The ability to understand nothing in America can be viewed through one lens, everything is multifaceted and impacts everyone differently.”

This perspective remains one of the most significant lessons she carries from her undergraduate education. It informs her understanding of complex issues and reinforces the importance of considering experiences beyond a single viewpoint.

Faculty Who Challenged and Encouraged

Moody also remembers the role her professors played in her development. Their influence combined intellectual challenge with encouragement, helping strengthen her commitment to work that addresses inequities affecting Black communities.

“My professors challenged and encouraged me and I appreciate each of them to this day,” she says.

That lasting appreciation reflects the personal as well as academic significance of her time in the program. The relationships and perspectives she developed at CofC remain part of how she describes her educational journey.

Continuing in Education and Leadership

Since graduating in May 2010, Moody has continued her education through graduate study in higher education and leadership studies. Her professional areas of expertise include political engagement and leadership development.

Her recognitions include:

• 2017 Clyburn Fellow
• 2024 CBCI Fannie Lou Hamer Government Relations Fellow

Her work in higher education and continued study of leadership reflect interests that connect with the questions of access, opportunity, and perspective she identifies as central to her AAST experience.

Keeping African American Stories Visible

For current students considering African American Studies, Moody emphasizes that African American contributions are essential to an accurate understanding of American and world history.

She sees studying those histories as a way to develop appreciation, pride, and a sense of responsibility for continuing to share them.

“Our stories need to continue to be told.”

For Moody, that responsibility is part of what it means to carry the program’s lessons forward. Her path demonstrates how an African American Studies education can remain relevant through further study, professional leadership, and an ongoing commitment to expanding opportunity.