Roseann Liu is an assistant professor of educational studies and Asian American studies at Swarthmore College. She is a scholar of race, education inequality, and social justice. She has published about multiracial solidarity, structural racism in school funding, and engaged methodologies. Her book, Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2024.

Liu is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Academy of Education, Spencer Foundation, American Educational Research Association, and Wenner-Gren Foundation.

She attended NYC public schools and taught in the school system she graduated from. When she moved to Philadelphia (or what her mom referred to as that "little village”), she worked as an education policy and evaluation researcher and visited a wide range of schools. Though it took a while, she now considers Philly her adopted hometown and is ride or die for that "little village.”

These experiences have shaped her scholarship in important ways. As a teacher, she experienced the challenges of teaching in underfunded schools, including what it felt like to pay for materials out of her own pocket. When she became an applied researcher in Philadelphia, she developed a more comparative perspective on inequalities by visiting a range of different school districts. Liu’s research and teaching are guided by the following values and approaches: 1) a deep understanding of people’s perspectives gained through qualitative and ethnographic methods; 2) reciprocal, collaborative, and egalitarian relationships with research participants; 3) communicating in ways that are broadly accessible to non-academic audiences. Her engaged and public scholarship has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY/NPR, Colorlines, and Hechinger Report. She has also produced short films and worked with other forms of media to communicate and disseminate ideas.

Education:

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Ed.M., Teachers College, Columbia University

B.A., New York University

Publications:

https://www.roseannliu.com/ 

Courses Taught:

EDUC 014: Pedagogy and Power: Introduction to Education

EDUC 014F: Pedagogy and Power: Introduction to Education, First Year Seminar

EDUC 041: A Site of Struggle: Educational Policy

EDUC 046/SOAN 040: Race, Nation, Empire, and Education

EDUC 065: Qualitative Research Methods

EDUC 068/SOAN 020: Urban Education

EDUC 167: Education, Race, and the Law

ASAM 003: Introduction to Asian American Studies

ASAM 011: Advancing Inclusive Histories: Creating K–12 Asian American Studies Curricula

ASAM 050: Consuming Asian America