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Elizabeth Birr Moje

Dean of the School of Education; George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; Professor and Faculty Associate, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research

Elizabeth Birr Moje is the dean for the School of Education, the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty associate in the Institute for Social Research and in the Latino/a Studies program. Moje began her career teaching history, biology, and drama at high schools in Colorado and Michigan.

In her current research and community engagement work, Moje uses an array of methods to study and support young people’s literacy learning in Detroit, Michigan. She is particularly interested in the intersections between disciplinary literacies of school and the literacy practices of youth outside of school. She also studies how youth draw from home, community, ethnic, popular, and school cultures to make cultures and to enact identities. In related work focused on teacher learning, Moje developed and co-directs Teaching and Learning the Disciplines through Clinical Practice Rounds, with colleague Robert Bain. The Rounds Project, which advances discipline-based literacy teacher education in urban settings, was awarded the provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize at the University of Michigan in 2010.

Moje is a member of the National Academy of Education, where she chairs the Professional Development Committee. She serves as a vice president of the American Educational Research Association representing research on the social contexts of education (Division G) and as the chair of the William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award Selection Committee.

Ph.D. Purdue University; M.A. Eastern Michigan University; B.A. Concordia College