James Earl Davis

James Earl Davis

  • College of Education and Human Development

    Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies

    Professor and the Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education

Office Location

1301 Cecil B Moore Avenue

Direct

215-204-3002

Department

215-204-8017

Biography

James Earl Davis is the Bernard C. Watson Chair in Urban Education at Temple University and professor of higher education in the College of Education and Human Development. He also holds affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of Africology and African American Studies and the gender, sexuality and women’s studies program. With an explicit concern for gender equity in education, his research has provided new insights into how social contexts of education inform racial and gender experiences and expressions, especially for Black boys and emerging adult men. More specifically, his work has investigated the construction of gender identity and its ties to engagement and performance at different education levels, from early learning to higher education.

Davis’ current research focuses on gender-based education policy and reform, social stratification and urban neighborhood-university relations, and the intersection of schooling options and housing inequality. His work has been funded by various agencies including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Spencer Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the William Penn Foundation. With research publications in numerous academic journals, books and edited volumes, Professor Davis has sought to generate, leverage and trouble the field’s understanding of education pathways, the confluence of gender and race and how broader contexts inform postsecondary possibilities. A former National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow and a Fulbright-Hays scholar, Davis’s scholarly work and professional contributions have been honored with the Warrior Award-International Colloquium on Black Males in Education, Distinguished Research Career Award-Center for Research and Mentoring of Black Male Students and Teachers, Association for the Study of Higher Education Distinguished Mentor Award, American Education Research Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award, and AERA Fellow status. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in advancing collaborative university relationships with schools, districts and community-based organizations; increasing external grant funding for research and service initiatives; mentoring and supporting early career faculty and graduate students; and developing university place-based strategies and partnerships. Professor Davis holds a BA in sociology from Morehouse College, a PhD from Cornell University and completed postdoctoral study in the Division of Education Policy at the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ.

Courses Taught

  • Administration of Higher Education
  • Advanced Practice-Based Qualitative Research in Higher Education
  • Research Practicum
  • Seminar on Theory in Higher Education and Leadership

Selected Publications

Featured

  • Brown, M.C., Dancy, T.E., & Davis, J.E. (2013). Educating African American Males: Contexts for Consideration, Possibilities for Practice. Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. Volume 383. Peter Lang New York. Retrieved from http://libproxy.temple.edu/

Recent

  • II, D.T.E., Edwards, K.T., & Davis, J.E. (2018). Historically White Universities and Plantation Politics: Anti-Blackness and Higher Education in the Black Lives Matter Era. URBAN EDUCATION, 53(2), pp. 176-195. doi: 10.1177/0042085918754328