About
Welcome!
My name is Cassie J. Brownell and I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education within the University of Toronto. I received my doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education–with a literacies specialization and certificates in qualitative research and urban education–from Michigan State University in 2018.
Originally from Montana, I graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2008 with a B.A. in Social Welfare and Justice and a minor in Justice and Peace Studies. I began my career in education as an early childhood teacher in post-Katrina New Orleans. While teaching, I obtained a Master of Elementary Education (K-6) as well as a special education certificate from the University of Notre Dame. As an interdisciplinary scholar, my research critically considers the politics of identity, literacies, and civics in contemporary schooling. In my role as a teacher educator, I seek to create active engagement opportunities by challenging students to interrogate the histories of their home, current, and future communities, and to engage civically in their local communities.