BIO
Derron Wallace is the Jacob S. Potofsky Chair in Sociology and associate professor of sociology and education at Brandeis University, USA. He is also a research fellow at the University of Manchester, England. A cultural sociologist of race, ethnicity and education, Derron's research focuses on structural and cultural inequalities in urban schools and neighborhoods as experienced by Black youth. Through research, teaching and service, he explores the dynamics of, and the solutions to, racial, ethnic, gender and class inequalities in education.
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His research has been published in leading sociology and education journals, including the flagship journal of the British Sociological Association, Sociology, the British Journal of Sociology of Education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Cultural Sociology, Race, Ethnicity & Education, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Comparative Education Review, Gender and Education, and Harvard Educational Review.
He has co-edited special issues with the Peabody Journal of Education and Comparative Education Review. Derron has also co-edited two books—the first with Routledge Press and the second with Bloomsbury Press.
For his scholarship on Black youth nationally and internationally, Derron has received numerous awards. These include the 2023 Doris Entwisle Early Career Award from the Sociology of Education section on the American Sociological Association, the 2023 Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association for research on the social context of education, the 2019 Joyce Cain Award from the Comparative and International Education Society, the 2018 Emerging Scholar Award from the African Diaspora Special Interest Group of the Comparative and International Education Society, and the 2015 Distinguished Dissertation Award from Division G of the American Educational Research Association.
Derron's research has garnered support from the US-UK Fulbright Commission, the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the Citizens and Scholars Foundation (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Foundation), the Marion & Jasper Whiting Fellowship, the Stuart Hall Foundation and the Hutchins Center for Research in African and African American Studies at Harvard University. A passionate teacher, mentor and advisor, Dr. Wallace received the Michael L. Walzer ‘56 Prize for excellence in teaching in 2017 and the Kermit H. Perlmutter Fellowship for research, service and teaching excellence in 2018 from Brandeis University.
Prior to joining the Brandeis faculty, Derron served as a National Director at The Posse Foundation, and Community Organizer with Citizens UK, working with over 50 primary, secondary and higher education institutions on living wage, fair housing, immigration and street safety campaigns. His community organizing work in Britain on youth safety, immigrant rights and fair housing has been featured in The Guardian, BBC Nightly News, ITV, BBC Radio and American Magazine. He currently serves as a Board Member of the National Education Association Foundation.
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A proud Posse alumnus, Derron is a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum
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laude graduate of Wheaton College (Massachusetts), where he studied sociology and the African diaspora. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge.