Michael Gunzenhauser

I am interested in issues of social justice in education and research, and in particular how ethical practices may inform critical projects and promote resistance to normalization. My academic background is in the philosophy of education, and in that field, I am most interested in the study of ethics, epistemology, social theory, and their intersection in the work of feminists, critical theorists, and post-structuralists.

Recently I have been writing about the implications of high-stakes accountability policy for the philosophy of education. In 2005, Andrea Hyde and I began an interview study to understand the experiences of teachers and administrators in Pennsylvania schools who are working to respond to the challenges of external accountability. Currently I'm working with a team of doctoral students, and we're analyzing this data and writing.

My interest in the link between accountability and social justice came from my work with the Oklahoma A+ Schools and the N.C. A+ Network, affiliated programs that work with K-12 schools to integrate the arts into a full, rich curriculum.

Currently I teach courses in philosophy of education, the foundations of inquiry, and qualitative research methodology. I'm developing an ethics course for Spring 2010. I am also affiliated with the Women's Studies Program.

I see myself as a career educator, and in my research and teaching I draw from my various experiences in K-12 and higher education. Before coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, I was an assistant professor in the College of Education at Oklahoma State University. In between degree programs at UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Vermont, I was a residential counselor at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and coordinated pre-college programs for Duke University.