Dr. leslee stradford

Dr. Leslee Stradford is a distinguished educator, administrator, and abstract artist whose life and work reflect a profound commitment to art, scholarship, and legacy. A proud descendant of J.B. Stradford — the renowned entrepreneur and owner of the celebrated Stradford Hotel on Tulsa's Black Wall Street — Dr. Stradford carries forward a family tradition of excellence and resilience.

​

Dr. Stradford earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Art Education, and a Master of Fine Arts from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago, followed by a Doctoral Degree in Educational Administration from Illinois State University. Her academic and artistic achievements opened doors at some of the most respected institutions in the world, including a lectureship at Oxford University in England.

​

Her career spans decades of dedicated service to arts education. She was selected for Chicago's Artist-in-Residence program, contributing original works to the city's permanent collection. She spent seven years teaching art at Norfolk State University, a distinguished HBCU, before going on to serve as Academic Dean Emeritus at Berkeley City College and Laney College in California's Bay Area.

​

Now retired from her administrative career, Dr. Stradford remains deeply engaged in her passion for abstract art and is currently publishing her family and personal history. A seasoned world traveler with a deep love for Paris, France, she was named as Artist-in-Residence in Sag Harbor, New York, in 2021, where she currently resides.