Julie Kasper

Julie Kasper is pursuing an Educational Leadership Doctorate in Education (EdD). As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, she earned degrees in Sociology and Women’s Studies. She attended Columbia University’s Teacher College and graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in 2002, and is a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language. Julie taught English as a Second Language in K-12 schools in Japan, New York City, and Tucson for 16 years before focusing on research related to immigrant and refugee education with nonprofits, colleges, and school districts. Her research interests include equitable access to high-quality, culturally responsive educational opportunities, especially for migrant and refugee populations. She plans to investigate how educational policy - both as written by policymakers and as implemented by administrators and teachers - includes and excludes particular communities of learners and what this means within larger systems of oppression or inequity and within fields of empowerment and agency. She looks forward to analyzing how education in the US and around the world can be more accessible and responsive to the needs and interests of all students.