Dr. Ashley Patterson

Ashley Patterson joined Penn State's Curriculum and Instruction team in the Fall of 2015. Trained in Special and Elementary Education at Boston University and Reading Specialization at Hood College, she completed her Ph.D. work at The Ohio State University in Multicultural and Equity Studies in Education, where she also earned an MA in Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement.

Dr. Patterson's work in the educational field began as an elementary-level inclusive special educator. She is committed to preparing educators who take up a critical lens to working with children and best serving their needs while seeking ways to deconstruct inequities woven into the US's existing public school system and structure. To this end, Dr. Patterson serves as a co-coordinator for the newly (2020) established Social Justice in Education minor available to students across the University.

Broadly, Dr. Patterson's research interests consider intersections between identity and education, considering the dialogic relationship that exists as how we think about ourselves impacts our educational experiences. In contrast, our educational experiences impact how we think about ourselves.  Employing an intersectional approach to considering identity, Dr. Patterson's research examines race conjointly with a host of other contextually important and influential identity markers.