Dr. Lauren Lefty (she/her/hers)
About Me:
Greetings! I am a historian of education and the Director of NAU’s Secondary Social Studies Ed program. Broadly, my research interests include the history of education in the U.S. and Latin America, global and transnational history, US empire, teacher education, and culturally sustaining and decolonial pedagogies.
I’m passionate about working with future and current educators, and love getting to know my NAU students through our BSEd program. As a scholar, I’m also interested in the ways history and public humanities can inform contemporary conversations related to educational equity. 
In that vein, I’ve worked most recently on the project team of an NEH-funded K-12 Teacher Institute on the theme “Centering Youth Agency in the Civil Rights Movement,” in collaboration with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools program and the HBCU Florida A&M University (FAMU). I’ve also worked in the field of museum education with the Museum of the City of New York, in ed policy for the NYC Department of Education, and as a 7th grade and high school classroom teacher.
New classes coming soon from Professor Lefty! Accordion Closed
I am currently developing a history of American education course. Through the exploration of rich primary source material (think curriculum documents, yearbooks, oral histories, student newspapers, etc.) and innovative new scholarship, students will be able to examine the origins and growth of the public education system in the Unites States, analyze its role in society, and consider the experiences of students of different identities along lines of race ethnicity, class, gender, and disability status. I hope this class will be relevant to future teachers, but also anyone who ever went to school (i.e. you!).
What is your favorite class to teach? Accordion Closed
I absolutely love teaching “Historical Inquiry.” This seminar introduces students to the foundations of the historical discipline. (Boring? Think again.) I take students to the archives so they can realize first-hand how “doing” history is so much more than memorizing names and dates. I also encourage them to ask critical questions about power and archives, the creation of historical narratives, and the politics of historical memory. We visit a local historical site. And students end the class with a “Dual Inquiry Project,” which invites them to conduct historical research and create an accompanying lesson plan on a topic of their choosing. Check out the photos of my students visiting NAU’s Cline archives and Riordan Mansion below.
What undergraduate programs can you advise students about? Accordion Closed
BsED Program
Like working with young people? Committed to social justice? Have a passion for history, but not sure what career to pursue? Come chat with me about a future career in the classroom and NAU’s BSEd program.
Arizona Teacher’s Academy
Check out the Arizona Teachers Academy (ATA), which allows students in teacher certification programs to receive free tuition if they agree to teach in AZ schools after graduation!
What have you been up to lately? Accordion Closed
My current book project is tentatively entitled Seize the Schools, Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre: Cold War Education Politics in New York and San Juan, 1948-1975. This study examines the role of American empire and Latinx migration in the development of postwar education policy and activism in New York, Puerto Rico, and across the Americas.
I am also the co-author of Teaching Teachers: Changing Paths and Enduring Debates (Johns Hopkins 2018) and co-editor of Teaching the World’s Teachers (Johns Hopkins 2020). My article in the History of Education Quarterly, “Puerto Rico Can Teach So Much: The Hemispheric and Imperial Origins of the Educational War on Poverty,” traces the circulation of educational ideas and practices between Cold War development programs in the colonial Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the domestic War on Poverty. You can learn more about my research, teaching, and public humanities work at laurenlefty.com.
What’s are you working on next? Accordion Closed
In addition to my book project, I am working on three book chapters in the field of history of education. The first examines the political activism of Puerto Rican high schoolers in postwar NYC, and will appear in Youth in the Movement: High School Student Activism in Postwar America since 1945. The second chapter explores the history of bilingual education politics in a volume on post-Sixties histories of New York City. Finally, I am also co-authoring a chapter on the history and legacy of the 1964 Freedom Schools to appear in Education and Liberation: Perspectives on Black Educational Thought.
What do you like to do outside of school? Accordion Closed
As my students know, I am a lover of pizza, bagels, and Bad Bunny. I also enjoy hiking in the beautiful nature around Flagstaff, reading good books, wandering around New York City, and exploring museums.
