Our Spring 2024 Speaker Series is now available below! As a reminder, all presentations for the Spring 2024 semester will be held virtually via Zoom, and registration will be required for attendees to receive a Zoom link.
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. To request an accommodation, or have any additional questions, please contact our Associate Director Dr. Brian Timm (timm.21). At least two weeks’ advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.
Information on prior speaker series, including video recordings and additional material, can be found here.
Spring Semester 2024 Speakers
Friday, March 1, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Dr. Matthew Kraft, Associate Professor of Education & Economics, Brown University
Title: Interpreting the Magnitude and Policy Relevance of Effect Sizes in Education Research
Dr. Matthew Kraft
Bio
Matthew Kraft is an Associate Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University. His research and teaching interests include the economics of education, education policy analysis, and applied quantitative methods for causal inference.
His primary work focuses on efforts to improve educator and organizational effectiveness in K–12 urban public schools. His scholarship has informed efforts to improve teacher hiring, professional development, evaluation, and working conditions; changed how scholars interpret effect sizes in education research; and shaped ongoing investments in school-based tutoring and mentoring programs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Matt is the recipient of the Society for Research in Educational Effectiveness (SREE) Early Career Award, the William T. Grant Scholars Award, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Palmer O. Johnson Award for best publication across the seven flagship AREA journals, and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.
Previously, he taught 8th grade English in Oakland USD and 9th grade humanities at Berkeley High School in California.
He holds a doctorate in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education from the Harvard University as well as an M.A. in International Comparative Education and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.
View Dr. Kraft’s website, and follow him on Twitter, BlueSky, and LinkedIn!
Registration for Dr. Kraft’s talk is now closed. Watch the recording of Dr. Kraft’s talk here.
Friday, March 22: Dr. Kimberly Turner, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
Title: A Win or a Flop? Measuring Protest Effects
Bio
Kimberly Turner is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Kimberly Turner
Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute, and an International Security postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center.
Dr. Turner received her PhD in political science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She specializes in contentious politics, wage grievance, human capital, measurement, and international political economy. Turner’s main areas of interest are the causes, dynamics, and outcomes of mass movements. Her current research streams 1) analyze the linkages between skilled labor’s employment and wage grievance to the onset and outcomes of contentious politics within authoritarian settings, and 2) develops new measures of civil resistance efficacy.
Dr. Turner’s work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, American Political Science Association, Social Science Quarterly, Duck of Minerva, and the Global Post.
Registration for Dr. Turner’s talk is now closed. Watch the recording of Dr. Turner’s talk here.