About
Welcome!
My name is Cassie J. Brownell and I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of 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 language and 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 a interdisciplinary scholar, my research critically considers the politics of identity, literacies, and civics in contemporary schooling. In my role as an 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.