Department/College/UnitSocial Sciences Division

TitleEmeritus Professor

AffiliationFaculty

Web Site

Primary Office LocationMcHenry Library

Mail StopEducation Department

Biography, Education and Training

Brad Olsen is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Senior Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC. His work focuses on global comparative education; teachers, teaching, and teacher development; school reform/policy; sociolinguistics; and qualitative research methods. Dr. Olsen was series editor for The teacher’s toolkit (2010, Routledge). He is a recipient of the 2007 UCSC Excellence in Teaching award. Olsen’s most recent book is Teaching for success: Developing your teacher identity in today’s classroom (2016, Routledge).

Dr. Olsen received his Ph.D. in education from University of California, Berkeley. Prior to this, he worked as a high school English teacher in Maine, Massachusetts, and South America and a school administrator and teacher educator in California. He earned his A.B. in philosophy and English from Bowdoin College, and his M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Summary of Expertise

Dr. Olsen's work focuses on global education; teachers, teaching, and teacher development; school reform/policy; sociolinguistics; and qualitative research methods.