UCLA scholar of critical race theory and critical microaggressions will serve a three-year term on the governing body of the nation’s premier organization of educational research.
UCLA Professor of Education Daniel G. Solórzano has been elected to the AERA Council, the governing board of the American Educational Research Association, for a three-year term as a member-at-large. The UCLA School of Education and Information Studies is currently represented on the AERA Council by Professors Sylvia Hurtado (2019-22), Teresa McCarty (2020-23), and Professor Tyrone Howard as president-elect of AERA (2022-23).
“I’m honored and humbled to be part of such an amazing group of educational leaders, from teacher education to higher education,” says Professor Solórzano, who is an AERA Fellow. “We’ve been well-represented in the [AERA] presidency and in the council as well. People see our colleagues as leaders in many of the relative subfields of education. It manifests itself when we get someone like Professor Howard elected president, for which I’m really happy.”
Solórzano, a scholar of critical race theory and racial microaggressions and microaffirmations, says raising consciousness around critical race theory within AERA is a positive sign, but it has taken time.
“Critical race theory as a field in education doesn’t come to a place like AERA until the mid-1990s,” he notes. “I think the growth of critical race theory within a professional organization like AERA has been important and positive, and that is because of the leadership of colleagues like Gloria Ladson Billings and William Tate, who have both been past presidents of AERA.
“It has been a growing area within AERA, but if you look at the program for this year’s conference in San Diego, you see its impact. Our current and former students are an ongoing part of bringing in that voice, that perspective where we center race and racism in our research, practice, and discussions.”
At AERA this month, Professor Solórzano and UCLA alumna Lindsay Pérez Huber will speak on their work in racial microaggressions, including their co-authored book, “Racial Microaggressions: Using Critical Race Theory to Respond to Everyday Racism.”
“Our graduate students have been leaders in AERA and in other organizations such as ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) and CRSEA (Critical Race Studies in Education Association) in bringing significant new directions for critical race theory to the field of education,” says Solórzano. “I’m really happy to be a part of their growth and development and their contributions, not just to the field of critical race theory, but to the broader fields of education.”
Professor Solórzano teaches in the Social Science and Comparative Education division and the Chicana/o and Central American Studies Department at UCLA. He is also the director of the Center for Critical Race Studies in Education at UCLA. His teaching and research interests include critical race theory in education; racial microaggressions; racial microaffirmations; and critical race spatial analysis. Solórzano has authored more than 100 research articles, book chapters, and books on educational access and equity issues for underrepresented student populations and communities in the United States.
This year, Professor Solórzano was honored with the Spencer Foundation Mentor Award. In 2007, he received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2012, Solórzano was awarded the Critical Race Studies in Education Association Derrick A. Bell Legacy Award, and in 2020, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Claremont Graduate University and was elected to the National Academy of Education. Last December, Professor Solórzano, was honored by the UCLA Academic Advancement Program during its 50th Anniversary Celebration, for his work as a mentor to UCLA undergraduate and graduate students.
For a list of Professor Solórzano’s presentations at AERA, April 21-26, click here. To read his recent articles, view these PDFs.