Dr. Julia Duncheon

Biography

Julia Duncheon is an Associate Professor in the Educational Policy, Organization, and Leadership department at the University of Washington's College of Education. Prior to earning her PhD in Urban Education Policy from the University of Southern California, she worked as a high school history, government, and special education teacher and administrator in Brooklyn, New York. Julia has a passion for engaging high school students in academically rigorous and culturally relevant experiences that prepare them to achieve their postsecondary goals. Her desire to effect positive change in educational policy and practice led her to attend graduate school. After completing her PhD, she spent four years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso before transitioning to UW in fall 2019, where she is thrilled to be part of a community of scholars and practitioners committed to educational equity. Her research sits at the intersection of K-12 and higher education, exploring issues of college access and equity for historically underrepresented populations. Julia examines policies and practices designed to facilitate students' preparation, transition, and persistence in higher education, with a focus on the interplay of structure and agency. She employs sociological frameworks to investigate educational systems that disrupt opportunities for low-income students, students of color, and/or first-generation students, foregrounding the perspectives and experiences of students, teachers, and administrators to understand college-going processes and outcomes. Her recent projects have examined college preparation in urban high schools and college pathways for Latinx youth, as well as the implementation of early college high school reform. She is currently the principal investigator of a four-year, mixed-methods study funded by the Spencer Foundation that investigates how dual credit coursework influences college preparation and equity for underrepresented students in Texas.

Research Interests