LASIG is looking to highlight and award outstanding doctoral dissertations (Ph.D and Ed.D) that address the analysis of educational reforms, policies or practices in Latin America under a comparative/international perspective. The dissertations must have been completed and filed in the last two years, and no later than December 31th, 2023. All applicants must be CIES members.
The dissertations will be evaluated through a peer-review process based on the following criteria: a) The research is a scholarly inquiry pertinent to the current development of the field b) Degree to which the dissertation uses a comparative perspective c) Clear, pertinent and coherent theoretical and methodological framework d) Research conclusions have well supported policy implications.
This is the third year this award is being offered, with plans to continue LASIG's commitment in promoting doctoral research. If you are a current or recent Graduate student in the field of Comparative International Education in the context of the Latin American region who would like to self-nominate or if your professor would like to nominate you, we encourage you (or him/her)!
Procedure to nominate an Outstanding Dissertation:
We ask the help of the CIES community to self-nominate or nominate an outstanding dissertation that fits the criteria mentioned above. Along with the name of the scholar, nominations must include a short text (no more than 500 words) addressing what ways the nominated dissertation fits the four-fold criteria. The nominations will be peer-reviewed.
Application Process:
Along with your max. 500 word nomination, submissions must include:
I. A title first page containing the following information:
II. A detailed abstract of the dissertation (no more than 500 words), with no author identification (for blind review).
III. A letter from the Dissertation Chair recommending the dissertation for this award (this letter may be sent directly to the Committee at the e-mail address below). -This requirement will be waived for participants applying in 2024-
*LASIG welcomes dissertations in English, Spanish.
**Please complete this form by February 16, 2024 (The winner will be notified by March 1, 2024). The award will be presented during the Business meeting On March 13 at 2:45pm.
The dissertations will be evaluated through a peer-review process based on the following criteria: a) The research is a scholarly inquiry pertinent to the current development of the field b) Degree to which the dissertation uses a comparative perspective c) Clear, pertinent and coherent theoretical and methodological framework d) Research conclusions have well supported policy implications.
This is the third year this award is being offered, with plans to continue LASIG's commitment in promoting doctoral research. If you are a current or recent Graduate student in the field of Comparative International Education in the context of the Latin American region who would like to self-nominate or if your professor would like to nominate you, we encourage you (or him/her)!
Procedure to nominate an Outstanding Dissertation:
We ask the help of the CIES community to self-nominate or nominate an outstanding dissertation that fits the criteria mentioned above. Along with the name of the scholar, nominations must include a short text (no more than 500 words) addressing what ways the nominated dissertation fits the four-fold criteria. The nominations will be peer-reviewed.
Application Process:
Along with your max. 500 word nomination, submissions must include:
I. A title first page containing the following information:
- author’s name
- institutional affiliation
- date of the dissertation
- title of the dissertation
- telephone & email address
- names of dissertation committee chair and members.
II. A detailed abstract of the dissertation (no more than 500 words), with no author identification (for blind review).
III. A letter from the Dissertation Chair recommending the dissertation for this award (this letter may be sent directly to the Committee at the e-mail address below). -This requirement will be waived for participants applying in 2024-
*LASIG welcomes dissertations in English, Spanish.
**Please complete this form by February 16, 2024 (The winner will be notified by March 1, 2024). The award will be presented during the Business meeting On March 13 at 2:45pm.
Past Outstanding Dissertation Awardees
2017
Diana Rodriguez-Gómez is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Universidad de Los Andes, in her hometown Bogotá, Colombia. She holds an Ed.D. in International Educational Development with emphasis on Human Rights and Peace Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her academic and teaching interests gravitate around the intersections between violence and education in Latin America. Through an ethnographic approach that includes visual methodologies, her research delves into the social processes that (de)link global and national policies with classroom practices in contexts affected by violence. Her main research areas include comparative and international education, more specifically migration and education, armed conflict and education, and anthropology of education.
Her dissertation, titled, The Refugee label: Mapping the trajectories of Colombian youth and their families through educational bureaucracies in Ecuador, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2017 award.
Her dissertation, titled, The Refugee label: Mapping the trajectories of Colombian youth and their families through educational bureaucracies in Ecuador, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2017 award.
2016
D. Brent Edwards Jr. is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor of Educational Administration and International Education at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. His work focuses on the political economy of education reform and global education policies, with a focus on low-income countries. Previously, he has worked with the University of Tokyo; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Amsterdam; the Autonomous University of Barcelona; the George Washington University; the Universidad Centroamericana; and the World Bank. In addition to his work appearing in such journals as Comparative Education Review, Comparative Education, Journal of Education Policy, Prospects, and Education Policy Analysis Archives, among others, he has two books, titled: International Education Policy and the Global Reform Agenda: Education with Community Participation in El Salvador and The Political Economy of Schooling in Cambodia: Issues of Equity and Quality (both with Palgrave MacMillan).
His dissertation, titled, The development of global education policy: A case study of the origins and evolution of El Salvador's EDUCO program, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2016 award.
His dissertation, titled, The development of global education policy: A case study of the origins and evolution of El Salvador's EDUCO program, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2016 award.
2015
Rebecca Tarlau is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar in Education at Stanford University, affiliated with the Lemann Center for Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Brazil. Previously, she was a Visiting Professor of Educational Leadership and Societal Change at Soka University of America and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at University of California, Berkeley. She received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies from the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Anthropology and Latin American Studies from the University of Michigan. Rebecca’s research focuses on the relationship between states, social movements, and educational reform. Her scholarship engages in debates in the fields of political sociology, international and comparative education, critical pedagogy, global and transnational sociology, and social theory.
Her dissertation, titled, Occupying Land, Occupying Schools: Transforming Education in the Brazilian Countryside, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2015 award.
Her dissertation, titled, Occupying Land, Occupying Schools: Transforming Education in the Brazilian Countryside, was selected by the Outstanding Dissertation Award committee for the 2015 award.