Meet a Few of our Alums
Michael Bowman (PhD, History, 2016) is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University. His research interests revolve around the relationships between schools, housing, and urban (re)development in the post-New Deal United States. He is particularly interested in school districts as institutional actors that have shaped, and been shaped by, broader spatial policies. His dissertation traced the formalization of ties between the Seattle School District, the Seattle Housing Authority, and the Seattle Planning Commission and examines how the designs and plans of these institutions related to racial, ethnic, and class segregation in city neighborhoods and schools. He holds a BA in Political Science from Macalester College (St. Paul, MN) and an MEd in Social and Cultural Foundations from the University of Washington.
Isaac Gottesman (PhD, History, 2009) is an associate professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University. A historian of education, Isaac's research, teaching, and advocacy centers on helping those in the field, especially educational scholars, pre-service teachers, and graduate students, develop a historical and contemporary understanding of the landscape of educational ideas, policy, and practice. Within his broad interest in the landscape of the field, his scholarship has focused on two areas: the history of 'critical' scholarship in the field and the role of social foundations in teacher preparation programs. See his his faculty page.
John Hopkins (PhD, Philosophy, 2016) is the Associate Dean of Students and Director of Diversity and Service Initiatives at St. Martin's University. His research draws from several philosophical traditions--hermeneutics, feminism, and social and political theory--to critique and inform recent policies in American Indian education. His dissertation specifically addresses the way conversations unfold within colonizing frameworks between mainstream education and tribal communities. Drawing from the Indigenous philosophical literature, he attempts to articulate a distinctive Indigenous political theory that reveals the limits of recent writings in the politics of reconciliation and that propose decolonizing strategies for Native students within public schools. In addition to his doctoral work, John serves as the Associate Dean of Students at Saint Martin's University, located in Lacey, Washington. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from Seattle University and Master's Degree in Philosophy from Marquette University.
Meet a Few of our Current Doctoral Students
Gonzalo Guzman is a doctoral student studying the history of education. His research interest lies at the intersection of labor and American educational history. He is particularly interested in how labor systems interact with educational opportunities for Latina/os and how public schools have helped create and reinforce racial categories. His dissertation is a multistate study of the educational and migrant experiences of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans with a focus on Washington State and Wyoming from the early 20th century to the Chicana/o Movement of the early 1970s. He holds a BA in History and Latin American Studies and an MEd in Social and Cultural Foundations, all from the University of Washington.
Kathy Nicholas is a doctoral student studying the history of education. Her current work examines women and leadership in the 19th and 20th centuries. Drawing on research traditions from History and Political Science, her dissertation focuses on school suffrage, women as shapers of public education and the growth of state educational systems in the United States with a particular emphasis on the West. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Western Washington University. After completing a post-Baccalaureate/teacher certification program through Western Washington University’s Urban Education Program, she taught both secondary Language Arts and Social Studies. She received her MEd in Social and Cultural Foundations from the University of Washington.
