Grace Kao to Join Faculty

Department News
February 1, 2017

The Department is delighted to announce that Grace Kao will be joining the faculty. Professor Kao earned her PhD from the University of Chicago and she comes to us from the University of Pennsylvania. She has expertise in the fields of migration, ethnicity, Asian-American Studies, stratification and education. In addition she brings technical methodological skills, particularly in survey data analysis. She is noted as a graduate mentor and undergraduate teacher. Grace will be a core figure in CIQLE and also we expect her to play a pivotal role as leader of Yale’s program in Education Studies.

Department Chair Philip Smith said of the news:

“This is tremendous step forward as we rebuild our quantitative programs and improve Yale’s teaching and research capacity in the fields of race, ethnicity, education and migration. We are also making Sociology more central to Yale’s interest in Asian-American Studies. The  Faculty and Graduate Students I have spoken with are just buzzing with excitement at this news.”

His sentiment was shared by graduate student Tom Lyttelton:

“As a graduate student in the department I’m so excited that Grace Kao is joining the Yale Sociology Department.  Professor Kao is a renowned sociologist of education, immigration and the family, and I know I and others are looking forward to having her expertise and mentorship in CIQLE.”

Said Professor Kao:

“I am honored and excited to join the faculty of Yale’s distinguished Sociology Department and looking forward to working with its dedicated students. I am delighted that the department values research on race and ethnicity, immigration, Asian American Studies, and sociology of education. I am enthusiastic about serving as the Inaugural Faculty Director of the Education Studies Program. I am also attracted by President Peter Salovey’s commitment to diversity and his investments in the Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration and the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Program. I am eager to work with my colleagues on these important initiatives.
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I would like to especially thank Phil Smith (Department Chair) and Alan Gerber (Associate Dean for the Social Sciences) for their
dedication in recruiting me!”

Welcome Grace!