Assistant Professor - Disparities and Education Policy - Berkeley School of Education

Position overview

Position title: Assistant Professor

Salary range: The current salary range for this position is $80,800 - $128,700 (9-month academic year salary). However, off-scale salary and other components of pay, which would yield compensation that is higher than this range, are offered to meet competitive conditions.

Anticipated start: July 1, 2026

• Open date: September 29, 2025
• Next review date: Thursday, Oct 30, 2025 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
• Final date: Thursday, Oct 30, 2025 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Applications will continue to be accepted until this date.

The University of California, Berkeley seeks a tenure-track faculty member at the rank of Assistant Professor in the Berkeley School of Education whose scholarship addresses the goals of The Education Policy Cluster of the Othering and Belonging Institute. The goals of the Cluster are to: (1) Foster creative scholarship in K-12 education policy and politics research focused on pressing challenges of educational opportunity for students experiencing unequal schools, systems, and structures;

(2) Devise and pilot inclusive research that engages students, families and communities; (3) Engage in strategic dissemination and contribute to local, state, and national policy discussions and decisions; and (4) Enrich the intellectual environment of the campus through fostering multidisciplinary scholarship.

We seek an Assistant Professor who has a research and teaching portfolio that examines how educational policy and political processes influence access, opportunity, and outcomes across communities of varied social and economic backgrounds. We plan to conduct an interdisciplinary search between the Othering and Belonging Institute and the Berkeley School of Education to recruit scholars whose research focuses on one or more the following areas: (1) policies and legal strategies to improve educational opportunities for minoritized and emergent bilingual and multilingual students;

(2) political and systemic dynamics, and their relationship to efforts to improve school systems; and (3) the history of politics and/or policies that limit or expand education opportunity for students made vulnerable by historical and contemporary disparities in educational inputs and access. Ideal candidates will be multidisciplinary scholars with backgrounds in several fields such as education, history, sociology, philosophy, public policy, law, and political science.

The successful candidate will contribute to teaching in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster in the BSE, including the teaching of undergraduates and graduate students.

In the Berkeley School of Education, we educate like democracy depends on it- because it does. In a fast-changing, polarized world where inequalities and existential threats multiply, education remains an essential lynchpin for fostering human potential, achieving generational progress, and nurturing civic engagement. Together our research, teaching, and practice supports a vision of public education that has as its goal equity and inclusion at all levels - classroom, school, community, district, state, nation, and globe.

Our students arrive with exceptional academic talent and professional experience, driven to make a meaningful impact as researchers, educators, leaders, and innovators. Together, faculty and students engage with pressing questions, from how children, youth, and adults learn across varied contexts, to how schools, communities, and societies can expand opportunities and advance educational equity. Through effective and equity-informed education, the BSE helps people and communities learn to dialogue across difference, use critical thinking to make informed decisions, and advance both individual achievement and progress for the benefit of society.

As a world leader in public education, guided by a commitment to excellence in scholarship, teaching, innovation, and leadership, our professional and academic programs help prepare the next generation of educators, leaders,…