AnnaLise Hoopes (she/her)

AnnaLise Hoopes is a Fulbright scholar and PhD candidate in comparative international education at UCLA. Her dissertation explores how PreK-5 schools in the US, Italy, Germany, and Ecuador foster empathy. AnnaLise uses a positive deviance approach—interviewing, observing, and learning from teachers who prioritize empathy pedagogy in their classrooms. She is particularly interested in the cultivation of empathy across lines of division (on dimensions of race, class, gender, ability, appearance, religion, political ideology, etc.) as well as empathy towards animals and nature (ecological empathy). Through her research, AnnaLise hopes to elucidate effective strategies to promote empathy on a broader scale—in service of a more inclusive, just, and sustainable world.

AnnaLise holds a Bachelor’s in Philosophy and Studio Art from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a California teaching credential. She has been a classroom teacher, environmental educator, nonprofit director, and entrepreneur. In addition to her academic work, AnnaLise also runs The Changemaker Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit she founded in 2017 which empowers youth to create social impact projects. Over the past eight years, TCP has provided thousands of youth in 40 countries with the tools, mentorship, and funding to create positive change in their communities. Her vision for TCP is to empower changemakers all over the world to find their voice, take action on the issues they care about, and create a more equitable and compassionate world.