Dr. Nina Asher, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities
Nina Asher (Ed.D., 1999, Teachers College, Columbia University) is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UMN-TC). She was the recipient of a 2014-15 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award (Research) for her project, Examining the Intersections of Globalization, Privatization, and Education after two decades of Economic Liberalization in India, and conducted this research in India during her sabbatical. Nina was Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UMN-TC, from July 2011-June 2014. She is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) at UMN-TC.
Nina writes in the areas of postcolonialism and feminism, globalization, critical perspectives on multiculturalism, and Asian American studies in education. She has published over 30 articles and book chapters and her work has appeared in such leading national and international journals as the Educational Researcher, Teachers College Record, Postcolonial Directions in Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, among others.
Nina has served as a member/chair of numerous committees of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) over the past 15 years. Her extensive service to Division B (Curriculum Studies) includes being a member of the Lifetime Achievement Award Committee (2014-15), chairing the Nominations Committee (2011-13), and chairing the Outstanding Dissertation Award Committee (2004-05). In 2013-14, Nina chaired the Nominating Committee of Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) and from 2004-07, she was the inaugural Chair of AERA’s Postcolonial Studies and Education Special Interest Group (SIG). Previously, she served as a member of the Selma Greenberg Outstanding Dissertation Award Committee of the AERA’s SIG Research on Women in Education (in 2003) and Program Chair of the AERA’s SIG Research on the Education of Asian Pacific Americans (2002-03). Nina’s history of service to AERA is evidence of her sustained commitment to equity, diversity, and excellence in educational research.
Beyond AERA, Nina is Book Review Editor for the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, since 2007 and, from 2007-2009, was also Book Review Editor for the National Women’s Studies Association Journal (now Feminist Formations). She has also served on the Fellowship review panels (both International and American) of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and on the Canon Project Task Force of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS). Nina serves on the editorial/advisory boards of several top, refereed journals, including the JCT, Teachers College Record and Curriculum Inquiry. From 1999-2011, Nina was on the faculty at Louisiana State University, where she served as Co-Director of the Curriculum Theory Project (CTP) from 2007-10.
