Robert Ward
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Cook Family Writing Program
PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Educational Policy Studies; BS, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, Sociology & Political Science
Dr. Robert Anthony Ward is an Instructor in the Cook Family Writing Program and the African American Studies Department. He is also a Weinberg College Adviser. His educational journey began in Detroit, Michigan where he attended the nationally recognized Cass Technical High School, which eventually led him to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. There he earned both his M.A. and PhD in Educational Policy Organization and Leadership. Dr. Ward’s research focuses on the relationship between race and the free market and their intersectionality with educational policy and reform. The methodological tools he utilizes include qualitative inquiry, critical race theory as a theoretical framework, case study, and document analysis. Deeply devoted to his love of teaching, Dr. Ward has a significant interest in the processes of racialization and how they materialize in classroom learning. Dr. Ward devotes much of his time to developing life-long learners that use pedagogy to critically challenge mechanisms of inequality.