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Sarah Ray | Department of Leadership | University of Memphis
Sarah M. Ray

Sarah M. Ray,

Assistant Professor

Ball Hall 123smray4@memphis.edu

About Dr. Sarah M. Ray

Dr. Sarah M. Ray is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership at the University of Memphis College of Education. Their work focuses on developing social learning among community-based entrepreneurs: the peer networks, collectives, and shared practices through which business owners learn from one another and lead together.

Dr. Ray's research shows that for many community-based entrepreneurs, especially those from underrepresented communities, the most important learning doesn't happen in formal training. It happens in relationships. Their scholarship examines how that collective learning works and how communities, educators, and organizations can intentionally build it. They use action research methods, partnering with entrepreneurs as co-researchers, and draw on sociocultural learning theory to understand learning as embedded in people, practices and place. Their recent work examines marginalized entrepreneur collectives as sites of social movement learning, and how women entrepreneurs learn through virtual social networks.

Dr. Ray's work also extends to workforce development and vocational education. They examine how training systems can open pathways for people historically left out, including gender equity in vocational education and training, and how employers and educational institutions co-design the skills emerging work requires, such as green employability skills in manufacturing. Across this work, they connect learning at the individual, organizational, and community levels to broader economic opportunity.

Before joining the University of Memphis, Dr. Ray was an Assistant Professor of Human and Organizational Learning at The George Washington University. They serve in an editorial role with New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development and Perspectives.

At Memphis, they teach in adult education and leadership-oriented courses, help develop workforce-focused academic programs that connect the university to the region's employers, and welcome partnerships with entrepreneurs, employers, community organizations, and practitioners interested in learning-centered approaches to creative small business, workforce, and community development.

Areas of expertise: 

Social learning among entrepreneurs · Community-based entrepreneurship · Workforce development · Vocational education and training · Entrepreneurial collectives and peer learning · Entrepreneurial leadership development · Green employability and future-of-work skills

Education

  • Ph.D., Educational Human Resource Development, Texas A&M University
  • MPA, Sam Houston State University
  • BA, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Contact

Selected publications

  • Al-Asfour, A. A., & Ray, S. M. (2026). Manufacturing leaders' perspectives on green employability skill development through multi-level organizational learning. European Journal of Training and Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejtd-01-2026-0009
  • Scully-Russ, E., Ray, S. M., & Lundgren, H. (2026). Practitioner's pulse: A content analysis approach for examining prevalent topics in HRD practitioner periodicals. Human Resource Development Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.70028
  • Ray, S. M. (2025). Life events as learning catalysts: Immigrant women's entrepreneurial career transitions [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.3102/ip.25.2186283
  • Ritz, C. R., March, R. P., & Ray, S. M. (2025). The application of andragogical principles in transformational leadership training for prevention professionals. In E. F. Holton, P. A. Robinson, & C. Caraccioli (Eds.), Andragogy in practice: Case studies on innovation in adult learning (pp. 219–232). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032626000-23
  • Ray, S. M., Hinshaw, J., & Trivedi, C. (2024). Supporting WFN collective social entrepreneurship through social movement learning and critical participatory action research. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 36(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225231221119
  • Ray, S. M. (2024). Immigrant women entrepreneurs: Virtual social networks, learning, and culture. In Handbook of social media in education, consumer behavior and politics (pp. 209–231). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-90237-3.00010-2
  • Zarestky, J., Deer, S., & Ray, S. M. (2024). Power dynamics and social enterprises: A case study of an international NGO. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 36(4), 387–408. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21554
  • Trivedi, C., & Ray, S. M. (2024). Equity, empowerment, and social justice: Social entrepreneurship for formerly incarcerated individuals. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 36(1), 48–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225231223388
  • Ray, S. M. (2023). Questioning privilege. In Mapping the field of adult and continuing education (pp. 269–274). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003445920-26
  • Ray, S. M. (2023). [Review of the book The handbook of adult and continuing education, by T. S. Rocco, M. C. Smith, R. C. Mizzi, L. R. Merriweather, & J. D. Hawley (Eds.)]. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 35(1), 56–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225231171571
  • Ray, S. M., & Zarestky, J. (2021). Gender in vocational education and training: An integrative review. European Journal of Training and Development, 46(9), 876–893. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejtd-12-2019-0196