Visiting Scholars Speaker Series: Diverse Perspectives in Education
Since 2008, select scholars from diverse backgrounds and perspectives are invited to Penn GSE to give lectures and share their research with faculty and students as part of our Visiting Scholars Speaker Series: Diverse Perspectives in Education. The series also provides an opportunity for doctoral student socialization and learning. These talks are followed up with a lunch and conversation between students and the speaker about their work.
2022-2023 lecture series:
Dr. Christopher Candelaria, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Location: Penn GSE, 3700 Walnut, Room 200, Philadelphia PA 19104 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Professor Candelaria uses economic theory and econometrics to evaluate policies and better understand issues in education policy.
Dr. Chandra Alston, Assistant Professor in the College of Education at NC State University
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Location: 3420 Walnut Street, Van-Pelt Dietrich Library, Class of 78’Pavillion 6th Floor, Philadelphia PA 19104 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Alston has worked for over a decade preparing beginning, middle, and high school English teachers, and studying the implications of educational policy reforms on literacy instruction.
Dr. Joshua Childs, Assistant Professor in the Educational Policy and Planning program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
One Penn GSE, 3440 Market Street, Room 501, Philadelphia PA 19104 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Childs’ research examines the role of interorganizational networks and cross-sector collaborations to address complex educational issues.
Dr. Gabrielle Oliveira, Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies at Harvard University
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Location: One Penn GSE, 3440 Market Street, Room 501, Philadelphia PA 19104 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Oliveira’s research focuses on immigration and mobility — on how people move, adapt, and parent across borders. Her expertise includes gender, anthropology, and transnationalism across the Americas.
Past Years
2020-2021 lecture series:
Sally Nuamah, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Location: Zoom, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Nuamah’s research sits at the intersections of race, gender, education policy, and political behavior. Her first book, How Girls Achieve, was released by Harvard University Press in 2019. She was named Forbes Magazine 2019 “30 under 30” in Education, and awarded the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack, Assistant Professor, Harvard University
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Location: Zoom, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Jack’s research documents the overlooked diversity among lower-income undergraduates: the Doubly Disadvantaged—those who enter college from local, typically distressed public high schools—and Privileged Poor—those who do so from boarding, day, and preparatory high schools. For Zoom information, email Lizzie Petela.
Dr. Dominique Baker, Assistant Professor, Southern Methodist University
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Location: Zoom, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Baker’s research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of underrepresented students in higher education. Recent and ongoing projects examine student financial aid, affirmative action and admissions policies, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive & equitable campus climate. For Zoom information, email Lizzie Petela.
Dr. Dorinda Carter Andrews, Professor, Michigan State University
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Location: Zoom, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Carter Andrews’ research is broadly focused on racial justice and educational equity. She examines issues of racial justice in P-12 learning contexts and on college campuses, urban teacher preparation and identity development, and critical race praxis with K-12 educators. Her scholarship illuminates voices of youth and adults who have been historically and traditionally marginalized in schools and society. For Zoom information, email Lizzie Petela.
Dr. Monique Morris, Author, Social Justice Scholar, Filmmaker
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Location: Zoom, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Morris, Ed.D. is an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and social justice. She is the author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016), which explores how exclusionary discipline impacts Black girls in the United States. She is also an executive producer and co-writer for a documentary film, PUSHOUT. For Zoom information, email Lizzie Petela.
2019-2020 lecture series:
Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard University
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Stiteler Hall, Silverstein Forum, 2:30 – 3:45pm
Bridwell-Mitchell's research builds on her three areas of training and study: organizational management and theory, public policy, and education. Specifically, her research and teaching integrate these three fields to examine how organizational factors constrain and enable the success of U.S. public school reform.
2018-2019 lecture series:
Brian Burt, Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
Dr. Burt’s program of research uses qualitative methodological approaches to study the experiences of graduate students, and the institutional policies and practices that influence students’ educational and workforce pathways. His current research projects fall in two strands: 1) exploring the experiences of underrepresented graduate students of color in engineering; and, 2) understanding the science of team science.
Cynthia Dillard, Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education, University of Georgia
Dr. Dillard’s major research interests include critical multicultural education, spirituality in teaching and learning, epistemological concerns in research and African/African-American feminist studies. Her research has focused in Ghana, West Africa, where she established a preschool and an elementary school. Two of her books, On Spiritual Strivings: Transforming an African American Woman’s Academic Life (SUNY Press, 2006) and Learning to (Re)member the Things We’ve Learned to Forget: Endarkened Feminisms, Spirituality, and the Sacred Nature of Research (Peter Lang, 2012) have been selected as Critics’ Choice Book Award winners by the American Educational Studies Association (AESA).
Xueli Wang, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Xueli Wang studies college students’ learning, pathways, and success, with a particular focus on community colleges and STEM education. Dr. Wang utilizes a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches in her research. Her scholarship appears in numerous academic journals. She was honored with the 2015 Barbara K. Townsend Emerging Scholar Award by the Council for the Study of Community Colleges.
Micere Keels, Associate Professor, University of Chicago
Dr. Keels' principal research interests concern issues of race-ethnicity, inequality, poverty, and the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. Dr Keels is the principal investigator for EdTalk Project, where she translates her work into layperson’s terms to make it more accessible to the public. She has examined how educational disparity trickles down to future generations and is further examining the role the education gap plays for minority students.