Dr. Jerusha Conner is Professor of Education in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University, where she teaches courses in Education Policy and Instructional Leadership, and directs the Graduate Programs in Education. She is a recipient of the Tolle Lege Award for Teaching Excellence and the University Mid-Career Service Award.
Dr. Conner graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in English Literature. She has held positions as an admission officer, a high school English teacher, a college counselor, and a coach. She earned her Ph.D in Education: Administration and Policy Analysis from the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University.
Dr. Conner’s research focuses on student engagement, student voice, youth activism, youth civic engagement, and youth organizing. She has co-edited two collections: Contemporary Youth Activism: Advancing Social Justice in the United States (ABC-CLIO, 2016), and Student Voice in American Education Policy (National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook, 2015). Her recent book, The New Student Activists (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), examines the rise of college student activism since 2015.