Education and Social Policy: Faculty and Staff

The education and social policy Ph.D. program is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort between the University of Delaware's College of Education and Human Development and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. Faculty members involved with the program are listed below. 

Sarah Bruch


Program Director
 608-335-5676

Sarah K. Bruch is an associate professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Her research focuses broadly on social stratification and public policy. In particular, she focuses on integrating theoretical insights from relational and social theorists into the empirical study of inequalities. She brings this approach to the study of social policy, education, race, politics, and citizenship.

Florence Xiaotao Ran


Associate Program Director
 302-831-8695

Anamarie Auger Whitaker


Associate Program Director
 302-831-4018

Jasmin Rivers


Graduate Services Coordinator
 302-831-4933
Name/Profile Email Research Focus
Sarah Bruch skbruch@udel.edu Social stratification and inequality; race and ethnicity; social policy and politics; sociology of education; education policy; quantitative methods; political sociology.
Amy Schwartz aeschwar@udel.edu Education policy and urban economics, focusing on the nexus of schools, neighborhoods and public services and the causes and consequences of children’s academic, social and health outcomes.
Joseph Trainor jtrainor@udel.edu Risk, Risk Perception, and Warnings; Organizational management; Justice and Equity; Infrastructure; Community Engagement and Civil Society; Disaster Science; Emergency Management; Quantitative Research; Survey Research; Qualitative research; Mixed methods; Interdisciplinarity, Research and Practice Integration
Name/Profile Email Research Focus
Ann M. Aviles amaviles@udel.edu Equity and Diversity in Families and Communities, Early Childhood and Adolescent Social-Emotional DevelopmentEducation and Social PolicyFamily Policy and Services
Martha Buell mjbuell@udel.edu Early ChildhoodLiteracy and Language, Language Development, Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood, Teacher Preparation and Professional Development, Early Childhood Teacher Preparation, Education and Social Policy, Early Care and Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration
Roderick L. Carey RLCarey@udel.edu Equity and Diversity in K-12 Education, Education and Social PolicyTeacher Preparation and Professional Development, K-12 Teacher Preparation
Valerie Earnshaw earnshaw@udel.edu Health, Equity and DiversitySocial Determinants of Health
Rena Hallam rhallam@udel.edu Early ChildhoodEducation and Social Policy, Early Care and Education Policy, Teacher Preparation and Professional Development, Early Childhood Teacher Preparation
Jason Hustedt jhustedt@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, Early Care and Education Policy, Early ChildhoodFamily Policy and Services
Allison Karpyn karpyn@udel.edu Social Determinants of Health, Education and Social Policy, Social Policy and Program Evaluation
Barbara Settles settlesb@udel.edu Equity and Diversity in Families and Communities, Early Childhood and Adolescent Social-Emotional DevelopmentEducation and Social PolicyFamily Policy and Services
Anamarie Whitaker awhit@udel.edu Early ChildhoodSocial-Emotional DevelopmentEducation and Social Policy, Early Care and Education Policy
Name/Profile Email Research Focus
Lauren Bailes lbailes@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration
Dominique Baker djbaker@udel.edu Diversity and Equity in K-12 Education, Diversity and Equity in Post-secondary and Higher Education, Education and Social Policy, Equity and Diversity, Higher Education Policy, K-12 Education Policy
Elizabeth Farley-Ripple enfr@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration
Gary T. Henry cehd-dean@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration
Erica Litke litke@udel.edu STEM Education, Math Teaching & Learning
Henry May hmay@udel.edu Quantitative Methods, Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration
Florence Xiaotao Ran fxran@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, Higher Education Policy
Kenneth A. Shores kshores@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy
Sanford R. Student srstu@udel.edu Research Methods and Data Science, Measurement and Psychometrics
Bryan A. VanGronigen bvg@udel.edu Education and Social Policy, K-12 Education Policy, Education Leadership and Administration