Clarice Thomas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
African American Studies
Director of Teaching Well Institute for School Transformation (TWIST)
School of Education
Courses Taught
Making the Carceral State; Critical History of African American Education; Critical Readings in Black Thought, Introduction to African American Studies
Education
Ph.D., Georgia State University, 2018
M. ED., Grand Valley State University, 2010
B.A., Grand Valley State University, 2005
Research Interests
- Social Justice in Education
- Teacher Education
- Racial Justice and Incarceration
- Narrative Inquiry
- School-to-Prison Nexus
Publications and Media Placements
Books
Thomas, C. (2024). No One Can Arrest Our Dreams: Black Men Storying a Path Towards
Educational Justice and Freedom. Routledge.
Journal Articles
Behm Cross, S., Cannon, S., Jones Williams, M., Hale, J., Donovan, M., Thomas, C.,
Chea, M.,Bryant, M., & Downey, C.A. (2020). Criticality and the Narrative Inquiry:
Travel Stories and Tensions. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 22(1).
Behizadeh, N., Thomas, C., & Behm Cross, S. (2019). Reframing for Social Justice:
The Influence of Critical Friendship Groups on Preservice Teachers' Reflective Practice.
Journal of Teacher Education, 70(3), 280-296, doi: 10.1177/0022487117737306.
Behizadeh, N., Gordon, C., Thomas, C., Marks, B., Oliver, L., & Goodwin, H. (2019).
Social Justice Beliefs and Curricular Freedom: Factors Supporting Critical Composition
Pedagogy in a U.S. Middle School. Teaching and Teacher Education, 85, 58-68, doi:10.1016/j.tate.2019.06.004.
Thomas, C. (2018). Negotiating Words and Worlds: An Autoethnography of Linguistic
Identity Development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31(7), 612-625, doi: 10.1080/09518398.2018.1468044.
Cross, S.B., & Thomas, C. (2017). Mitigating First Year Burnout: How Reimagined Partnerships
Could Support Urban Middle Level Teachers. Middle Grades Review, 3(1), 1-9.
Book Chapters
Thomas, C., & Donovan, M. (2018). What Does it Mean to be United?: Using our Voices
to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Connection. In K. Varner, K. Tobin, & S. Lentz (Eds.)
#BrokenPromises, Black Deaths, & Blue Ribbons: Understanding, Complicating, and Transcending Police-Community Violence (pp. 117-121). Boston, MA: Brill Publishing.
Many, J., Favors-Welch, S., Kurz, K., Ogletree, T., & Thomas, C. (2018). Using the
Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a Framework to Understand and Support edTPA
Coordinators and Faculty During the Implementation Process. In J. Many & R. Bhatnagar
(Eds.) Implementing and Analyzing Performance Assessments in Teacher Education (pp. 217-246). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Book Reviews
Thomas, C. (2017). Prelude to Prison: Student Perspectives on School Suspension Book
Review. Journal of Negro Education, 86(2), 190-191.
Honors and Awards
- 2023 Beaumont Scholarship: Saint Louis University
- 2021-2022: Writing for Justice Fellowship: PEN America
- 2017: Beverly J. Armento Doctoral Award: Georgia State University
- 2016: Asa G. Hilliard, III Memorial Scholarship: Georgia State University
- 2015: Outstanding Student Research Award: Georgia Educational Research Association
- 2010: Nominee for the Dean's Outstanding Master Thesis Project: Grand Valley State University
- 2001-2002: Michigan Educational Assessment Program Scholarship: Michigan Department of Education
Professional Organizations and Associations
- American Educational Research Association (AERA) member, Division K-Teaching and Teacher Education SIGs-Critical Educators for Social Justice; Narrative Research
- National Alternative Education Association (NAEA) member