Research Concentrations / Strands
ADSSE provides a rigorous theoretical and interdisciplinary foundation in developmental science and special education, empowering you to improve the lives of at-risk children and youth and their families, with a focus on serving those from diverse sociocultural backgrounds.
Learn more about ADSSEJoin a community of learning sciences researchers who develop and test new approaches to learning — in classrooms, online, or with virtual, portable, networked or augmented technologies — so that the schools can more effectively teach students what they need to know.
Learn more about LSPSAs a doctoral student in PLS you will collaborate with internationally renowned scholars, engaging in coursework and developing a research agenda aligned with your interests and addressing today’s important and contested issues in education.
Learn more about PLSPrepare to become an interdisciplinary scholar, advocating for change as an innovative and transformational leader in educational research and practice, engaging with teachers, school leaders, university students and your community.
Learn more about CCTEEleni Zgourou, Ph.D. '18My experience at the School of Education has been wonderful! It is an intellectually stimulating environment which has offered me opportunities to meet and work with remarkable people, attend interesting classes, seminars and lectures, and make many new friends from diverse backgrounds.

Expanding Educational Knowledge

Will Zahran, a UNC School of Education doctoral student, was one of 12 graduate students from across disciplines on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus recognized as a 2024 Impact Award winner during an April 4 ceremony hosted by The Graduate School. The annual Impact Awards recognize graduate students and recent graduate…

Taylor Schmidt’s passion for teaching and democracy in education began in the classroom and has continued as a doctoral student at Carolina. Drawing upon his time in the classroom, Schmidt explores how education can inspire both teachers and students, and help democracy thrive while embracing global perspectives. “My heart has always been in teaching,” said…

UNC School of Education doctoral students Tia Byers and Darren Williams were recognized as 2025 David L. Clark Scholars by the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). As Clark Scholars, Byers and Williams will participate in the 2025 David L. Clark Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration and Policy. This honor is awarded to…

Jasmyne Yeldell's interest in science started early in her life. It later sparked curiosity for applying a people-focused approach to make science education more accessible. As an undergraduate biology major at the University of Miami, Yeldell took courses in education, discovering a passion for the study of teaching and learning. The intimate class settings and…

Wonkyung "Won" Jang ('22 Ph.D.), an assistant professor in the department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, serves as principal investigator on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-funded project that aims to better understand how childhood peers influence the behavior and development of young children.

With the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year, many UNC School of Education undergraduates are returning to campus with summer experiences that will serve them inside the classroom and in their work to better the world through education. The same can be said of the School’s faculty members and the postdoctoral researchers and graduate students…