Bio
Dr. Ingrid Phillips Whitaker is the daughter of the late Margaret E. Phillips and Colin Brathwaite. She is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. She is married to Rev. Dr. Mark M. Whitaker, who taught for 25 years as a College Professor and serves as the Assistant Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Portsmouth. They are the proud parents of four children – James (2024 Law Degree - North Carolina Central University School of Law; 2019 Master’s Degree - Georgetown University; 2017 B.S. Sports Science/Business Administration - North Carolina A&T State University – Full Basketball Scholarship), Naomi (2020 Bachelor of Science - East Carolina University – Full Track Scholarship, Dean’s List; 2023 - Masters of Public Health - Emory University; Presently in the Ph.D. in Public Health - University of Maryland), Nathaniel (2023 B.A. Africana Studies, Morehouse College – Track Scholarship; Presently in Masters of Africana Studies program at Georgia State University) and Rachel (Sophomore - North Carolina A&T State University).
After immigrating to the United States in 1969, Dr. Whitaker was educated in the Chicago Public Schools. In 1983, she graduated with honors from the prestigious Kenwood Academy. Dr. Whitaker graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Psychology. In 1990, Dr. Whitaker received the Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, the Master of Art in Sociology from the the University of Michigan in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in Sociology and Social Work from the University of Michigan in 1997.
Dr. Whitaker serves as a Tenured Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. Since 1996, Dr. Whitaker has taught courses on the graduate level (Sociological Theory and Social Policy) and undergraduate level (Introduction to Sociology, Minority Group Relations, Minority Families, Social Welfare, Introduction to Social Work, Introduction to African-American Studies, and African-American Social and political Thought). Furthermore, Dr. Whitaker has presented her research at National Conferences and published in scholarly journals.
In November 2014, Dr. Whitaker was elected to the Portsmouth Public School Board; the first time she ran for public office. Dr. Whitaker brings a well-informed and thoughtful voice on the welfare of children to School Board. As a School Board Member, Dr. Whitaker served as chair of the Minority and Women Contracting Committee and championed the cause of using researched based approaches to dealing with the well-being of our children.
On Tuesday, November 4, 2014, Dr. Ingrid and Dr. mark Whitaker made history by becoming the first married couple elected to Portsmouth City Council and Portsmouth School Board respectively. They speak TRUTH TO POWER advocating for Social and Economic justice.