Visiting Scholars
2011-2012 Respect Institute Visiting Professor
Dr. Nancy Niemi is the 2011-2012 Respect Institute Visiting Professor. During her time with the Institute she will conduct research about the evidence-based methods to build self-respect and mutual respect among children, adolescents and adults. She will also develop a self-respect scale with indicators for evaluation of respect-building tools and programs. Dr. Niemi has been proudly associated with the Institute’s predecessor Respect Rx since 2004 and advised on the book RESPECT. She is eager to focus her commitment to girls’ and women’s equity to The Respect Institute, as it begins its next organizational phase.
Dr. Niemi is a professor with a passion to teach because it is a radical act of confidence in the power of people to change the world. Currently she is Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department at the University of New Haven where she works with pre-service teachers and teaches courses in subjects across the pedagogical spectrum. She is committed to infusing all her courses with a focus on how teachers can be social activists.
Niemi’s research interests lie in the relationships between gender and schooling (teachers’ gender as well as students’), in the effectiveness of teaching on students’ political habits, on meanings inherent in classroom interactions, and most recently, in the ways in which the pursuit of college credentials can be harmful to the achievement of women’s equity.
Dr. Niemi’s research interests include the following: gender identity development of students and teachers in schools; the relationships between schooling and gender; social equity; classroom discourse; critical theory; curriculum analysis and development, particularly as it relates to diverse learners and teachers; teaching as a political activity.
Recent publications include: “Multiple Identities, Single Vision. Kate Rousmaniere’s Citizen Teacher: The life and leadership of Margaret Haley.” Feminist Teacher, (2007),18(2),“Body size and teacher bias: Exploring teacher ability perceptions of short boys” (with Julia B. Smith in the Journal of Educational Research, 2006); “Partisanship, Participation, and Political Trust as Taught (or Not) in High School History and Government Classes” (with R.G. Niemi in Research in the Teaching of Social Studies, 2006 ); and “The emperor has no clothes: Exposing the naturalization of gender in middle school student identities.” (Summer 2005). Gender and Education, Volume 17(5), 483-497.
