Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Urban Education, Temple University, 2019
M.A., English, La Salle University, 2014
M.Ed., Urban Education and Secondary English Education, University of Pennsylvania,
2009
B.A., English and Women Studies, Duke University, 2007
Teacher education
Urban education
Teacher professional identity and professionalism
Teacher inquiry and action research
Teacher labor markets
Qualitative research methods
Dr. Danielle Sutherland is currently an Assistant Professor at Towson University, where she teaches courses on educational ethics and principles of secondary education to undergraduate students and preservice teachers. In her courses, she inspires future teachers to question the status quo, challenge dominant assumptions, and think deeply about how their classroom work abets or alleviates educational opportunity gaps. In addition to her teaching, Dr. Sutherland also mentors Towson’s First Year Experience (FYE) Program and Tiger Network for transfer students.
Before joining Towson’s faculty in 2022, Dr. Sutherland served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University, where she led the qualitative study of competency-based pilot districts in Michigan. Dr. Sutherland began her educational career as a high school English teacher in Philadelphia, where she taught in neighborhood schools, including University City High School, Overbook High School, and in the magnet program at Northeast High School. During her time as a teacher, Dr. Sutherland was a member of teacher organizations including Teachers Lead Philly, the Philadelphia Writing Project and the Caucus of Working Educators.
When Dr. Sutherland isn’t working, she enjoys visiting Maine, running, swimming and cheering on the Duke Blue Devils with her husband, Mark, and her two labradors—Cameron and Chloe.
Dr. Sutherland’s scholarship is driven by a commitment to equity and social justice and informed by her personal experience as an educator in Philadelphia. Her research provides insight into how issues of equity and inclusion operate in K-12 settings and the extent to which universities, school leaders and policies are facilitating (or hindering) these efforts.
Currently, she is exploring this line of inquiry in three areas: