Dr. Tera McIntosh splits her time between eating way too much pizza, drinking way too much coffee with heavy cream, and professoring at Antioch University, where she teaches in numerous programs: Management, Business, and Human Service Administration and a hodgepodge of courses: Trauma, Teams and Leadership, Ethical Issues for Managers, Grant Writing and Resource Development, Gender and Diversity, and so on. At Antioch, she sits on the Chancellor-appointed Anti-Racism Task Force, where she works to address systemic issues to create educational institutions that are more inclusive and equitable for both students and employees. She also is the faculty elected SEIU Union Chair where she acts as a liaison between faculty and University administration to create fair and equitable workspaces.

In addition to her teaching role, Tera also works for Foresters Financial, a purpose-driven insurance company that gives back to the community, where she is the Co-Chair of the PrideERG for employees across the countries of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

Tera received her bachelor’s degree in Recreation Therapy from Slippery Rock University and her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from Carlow University. Tera received her PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University, and most of her doctoral work focuses on building a better community in which to live, work, play, and authentically be seen.

Tera is the founder of numerous nonprofits, from nonprofit coffeehouses to spoken word organizations to her current animal rescue Misfit Mountain that she runs with her wife on 12 acres in Clyde, NC. In addition to her community organizing, advocacy and leadership work, Tera also writes creatively and academically. Tera is a nationally touring spoken word artist who was ranked the 53rd women poet in the world at the Women of The World Poetry Slam in 2016 in Brooklyn, New York at the Pratt Institute. In addition, she has published works with the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, the Journal of Homosexuality, IntechOpen, and most recently, a chapter in a collaborative new book titled Minorities-New Studies and Perspectives.

Tera is the current Democratic Chair of Beaverdam 2 Precinct in Haywood County and enjoys a little political discourse over pasta. Tera lives on a mountain top with her wife, their many animals, and a few stink bugs that she’s given names to, and often yearns for the day when she will enjoy a short line at the DMV and have no missing matches to her socks.