Faculty & Staff Directory
The Education Faculty & Staff Directory allows you to search for specific faculty/staff in GVSU's Education Programs. Enter a keyword or name, or choose a Department or Program from the lists, and click the "Filter" button. See details for each person by selecting "View" next to their Department or Program(s).
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Education Faculty & Staff Directory
First Name
Leanne
Last Name
Kang
Email
kangl@gvsu.edu
Role(s)
- Associate Professor
Office Address
434C DeVos
Office Phone
616-331-6278
Department
- Literacy, Educational Foundations, and Technology
Program
- Foundations
About
Dr. Leanne Kang is an associate professor of Educational Foundations at Grand Valley State University. She is also the author of Dismantled: The Breakup of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1980-2016. Kang began her career during the onset of NCLB, teaching language arts at an urban public high school in New Jersey. The experience led her to doctoral studies at the University of Michigan where she received a Ph.D. in Educational Foundations and Policy. Kang works closely with preservice and in-service teachers and administrators across Michigan, particularly in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Her research examines the history of urban education in the U.S. as a critical component to understanding and improving current educational reforms, policies, and practices. As an Asian American woman, daughter of immigrants, and a former public school teacher, advancing social justice is a driving force behind her teaching and research. She is currently working on a second book that chronicles the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools from 1968 to the present. You can listen to the oral histories for this book as podcasts on Spotify or Apple.
Teaching Areas
- Educational Foundations
Courses
- EDF 315: Diverse Perspectives in Education
- EDF 485: Context of Educational Issues
- EDF 671: Educational Policy and Practice
- EDF 672: Social and Cultural Foundations of Education
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Educational Foundations and Policy, University of Michigan, 2015
- M.A. in Public Affairs and Politics, Rutgers University, 2010
- M.Ed. in Language Arts, Rutgers University, 2004
- B.A. in English, Rutgers University, 2002
Academic & Professional Activities
- American Educational Research Association
- History of Education Society
- Urban Affairs Association
Awards & Honors
- GVSU CSCE Distinguished Early Career Scholar Award, 2021
- King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellow, 2014
Publications
Kang, L. (2023). Urban education reform in wicked times: The limits and possibilities of building civic capacity in Detroit. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31.
Kang, L. (2022). Why anti-racist education must include Asian American History. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, 34(2).
Kang, L. (2020). Dismantled: The Breakup of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1980-2016. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Kang, L. & Slay, K.E. (2019). The costs and consequences of school governance change in Detroit: From Proposal A to the Education Achievement Authority. In E.M., Duncan-Shippy (Ed.), Shuttered Schools: Race, Community, and School Closures in American Cities, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Scholarly Interests & Research
- History of education
- Education reform and politics
- Race and education