NCID-1201
Tonya Kneff-Chang
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Educational Foundations and Policy in the Community-Based Research on Equity, Activism, and Transformative Education (CREATE) Center
University of Michigan
Education/Degree:
1 Educational Foundations & Policy (University of Michigan)
About
Dr. Tonya Kneff-Chang is an education researcher, historian, and peace and conflict studies scholar. Combining historical inquiry and critical race, feminist, and social theories, Dr. Kneff-Chang's research examines racialized violence, collective resistance, and the liberatory and transformative power of education. Currently, Dr. Kneff-Chang is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Community-Based Research on Equity, Activism, and Transformative Education Center at the University of Michigan's School of Education (CREATE). She is also the Instructional Lead for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Justice (DEIAJ) in the Office of Medical Student Education at the University of Michigan Medical School, where she co-teaches the course, History of Race and Racism in Medicine. She has a BA in Peace & Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley; an MA in Educational Leadership & Policy from the University of Michigan; and a PhD in Educational Foundations and Policy.
Current Work
Dr. Kneff-Chang's scholarship integrates historical inquiry and policy analysis, with an emphasis on racism and violence in the foundations of social institutions, especially during the 19th century. In addition, she examines the power of collective resistance and grassroots organizing within struggles for liberation, justice, and human and civil rights. Dr. Kneff-Chang also researches issues of climate, or how people experience social and institutional settings, and racial narratives of institutions, or the stories institutions offer or communicate about race. As a Postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Kneff-Chang is part of the CREATE Center's School Shuttering and Equitable Educational Access Study (SSEEAS), which situates school closures within historical struggles for educational access, equity, and racial justice. SEEAS bridges historical and contemporary contexts to explore the origins, processes, and impacts of permanent school and district closures.
Research Area Keyword(s)
education as liberation, education history, racism, school closures, Violence