Associate Professor
Derron O. Wallace is an Associate Professor of Education Policy and Africana Studies. Prior to joining Brown, he served as the Jacob S. Potofsky Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Professor of Education at Brandeis University. An award-winning sociologist of race, ethnicity, and education, Dr. Wallace examines the relationship between social policies, political power, and young people, nationally and internationally.
Dr. Wallace is the author of the widely celebrated book, The Culture Trap: Ethnic Expectations and Unequal Schooling for Black Youth (Oxford University Press). The Culture Trap received a dozen awards and finalist distinctions, including the Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in Sociology of Education, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award for Anti-Racist Scholarship, Honorable Mention for Best Book in the Sociology of Children and Youth from the American Sociological Association, the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Outstanding Book Award from the Association of Black Sociologists, among other prizes. The Culture Trap was also finalist for the coveted C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Best Book of the Year Award from the British Educational Research Association.
Dr. Wallace’s scholarship has been published in leading journals, including Harvard Educational Review, Comparative Education Review, British Journal of Sociology of Education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic & Racial Studies, Race, Ethnicity & Education, and Sociology – the flagship journal of the British Sociological Association.
For his research, teaching and service, Dr. Wallace has received five distinguished early career awards from various sections of the American Sociological Association, the American Educational Research Association and the Comparative and International Education Society.
Wallace holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Marshall Scholar and a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Wheaton College (Massachusetts), where he earned a BA in Sociology and African Diaspora Studies with distinction. His research has been supported by several grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Stuart Hall Foundation.
A former community organizer, Dr. Wallace's work on youth safety, immigrant rights, fair housing, and public education has been featured by BBC News, BBC Radio, the Guardian, ITV, and NBC News.
