Jack Dougherty is Professor and Director of the Educational Studies Program at Trinity College. He and his students use tools from digital history, data visualization, and web writing to explore the relationship between cities, suburbs, and schools in metropolitan Hartford, Connecticut. Jack received his B.A. in philosophy from Swarthmore College, taught high school social studies in Newark, New Jersey, then earned his Ph.D. in educational policy studies, with a minor in U.S. history, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Trinity, he co-created the Liberal Arts Action Lab while serving as its first Faculty Director (2017-2020), and also led the team that launched the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER) while serving as its first Director (2018-2020).

Learn more about his teaching, scholarship, and community engagement at https://jackdougherty.org.

Teaching:

• Educ 200: Analyzing Schools, an introductory course where students compare and contrast theories on learning and inequality as they gain first-hand experience through participant-observation in Hartford public school classrooms.

• Educ 300: Education Reform, Past & Present, a mid-level survey course where students develop research and writing skills while exploring parallels between historical and contemporary movements to change society through schooling.

• Educ 308 Cities, Suburbs, and Schools, a research seminar where students have investigated and published works on housing inequality, racial integration, and public school choice.

• Educ 400: Senior Research Seminar, a capstone experience where all majors design, conduct, and present their study using qualitative, quantitative, and/or historical methods.

• Data Visualization For All, a course for undergraduate students and Hartford community partners to collaborate on creating interactive charts and maps for the web, and also a free online course for learners around the globe.

Scholarship:

• On the Line: How Schooling, Housing, and Civil Rights Shaped Hartford and its Suburbs, an open-access book-in-progress with student contributors, under contract with Amherst College Press.

• Hands-On Data Visualization: Interactive Storytelling from Spreadsheets to Code, an open-access book co-authored with Ilya Ilyankou (O'Reilly Media, 2021).

• Web Writing: Why & How for Liberal Arts Teaching & Learning, an open-access book co-edited with Tennyson O'Donnell (University of Michigan Press, 2015).

• Writing History in the Digital Age , an open-access book co-edited with Kristen Nawrotzki (University of Michigan Press 2013).

• More Than One Struggle: The Evolution of Black School Reform in Milwaukee (University of North Carolina Press, 2004).

Community Engagement:

Jack served as the first Director of the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER) from 2018-2020, and also served as the first Faculty Director of the Liberal Arts Action Lab from 2017-2020.