Associate Professor Emery Petchauer was selected to receive a distinguished award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for his significant scholarly contributions to the field of teaching and teacher education. Petchauer has a dual appointment in the Department of English and Department of Teacher Education. He also is Coordinator of the English Teacher Education Program.

Petchauer is one of two winners of the 2018 AERA Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) Innovation in Research on Equity and Social Justice in Teacher Education Award, which recognizes research that demonstrates innovation in addressing issues of equity and social justice in teaching and teacher education through expanded visions of theoretical frameworks, research methodologies, partnership models, and/or practices.

“The committee received an exceptionally strong pool of nominations, but [Dr. Petchauer’s] work in teacher education stood out for its focus on equity and social justice, its significance to research in teaching and teacher education, and its contribution to policy,” stated Katherine Schultz, Dean and Professor of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education and AERA Vice President, in the award letter.  

Petchauer was nominated for the award by Lynnette Mawhinney, Associate Professor of Urban Education at The College of New Jersey, who, along with Petchauer, co-edited the volume, Teacher Education Across Minority-Serving Institutions: Programs, Policies, and Social Justice, which was released in March 2017.  

“Dr. Petchauer’s work in teacher education stood out for its focus on equity and social justice, its significance to research in teaching and teacher education, and its contribution to policy.”

“Dr. Mawhinney’s nomination captured the multiple levels at which [Dr. Petchauer] has demonstrated his dedication to address the racialized inequities in teacher licensure examinations — a gatekeeper that maintains the racial disparities in teaching and teacher education,” Schultz stated in her letter. “The committee took note of [his] work on teacher licensure, ranging from the numerous hours [he] spent running workshops for students at Lincoln University to [his] rich body of research on this issue. [Dr. Petchauer’s] research and practice in this vital dimension of teaching and teacher education address some of the most pressing policy concerns in our field.”

Petchauer was an Assistant Professor of Education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2012. He then was an Associate Professor of Teacher Development and Education Studies at Oakland University before coming to Michigan State University in fall 2016.

The Innovation in Research on Equity and Social Justice in Teacher Education Award will be presented at the annual Division K Business Meeting in New York City on Monday, April 16, at the New York Hilton Midtown.