Dr. Jennifer Riggan, Assistant Professor and Director of International Studies, has been selected as a 2012 Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow by the National Academy of Education. The Fellowship encourages outstanding researchers at the postdoctoral level to pursue critical education research projects. The award is intended to provide release time from teaching and administrative duties.

Riggan received the award for “The Teacher State: Militarization and the Reeducation of the Nation in Eritrea,” an ethnographic study that explores teachers’ strategies to survive authoritarian rule in Eritrea. The study shows how teachers undermined government policies of militarization and promoted alternative forms of citizenship in the classroom.