NEWS

Jerome Morris

William A. Owens Award 2014

Jerome Morris, professor of social foundations of education, is one of the premier scholars of race, social class and the geography of educational opportunity. Also a research fellow with the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, his interdisciplinary program of research addresses issues related to race and education in the U.S., focusing specifically on the relationship between community, families, youth culture and schooling in the lives of African-American students. Morris has researched black schooling in poor and urban settings in major cities such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Nashville, and he conducted longitudinal investigations of issues of identity, social class and achievement in middle class and predominantly black suburban contexts in metropolitan Atlanta. Moreover, he is a leading scholar in highlighting the centrality of the U.S. South in understanding contemporary African Americans’ experiences across a range of areas, especially in education. His book, Troubling the Waters: Fulfilling the Promise of Quality Public Schooling for Black Children, has received tremendous praise for its very persuasive use of case study examples and well-crafted theory surrounding his idea of “communally-bonded schools.”

Previous Award

Creative Research Medal 2010

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