Eve Ewing

Dr. Eve Louise Ewing is a sociologist of education whose research is focused on racism, social inequality, and urban policy, and the impact of these forces on American public schools and the lives of young people. She is an assistant professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Her book Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism & School Closings on Chicago’s South Side is forthcoming from University of Chicago Press in October 2018 and explores the relationship between the closing of public schools and the structural history of race and racism in Chicago’s Bronzeville community. She often uses public platforms to discuss these social issues, particularly Twitter, where she is a well-recognized commentator with over 170,000 followers and 30-50 million views each month.

Ewing is a prolific writer across multiple genres. Her first collection of poetry, essays, and visual art, Electric Arches, was published by Haymarket Books in fall 2017. Her work has been published in many venues, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, and the anthology American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, curated by Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the United States. With Nate Marshall, she co-wrote the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, produced by Manual Cinema and commissioned by the Poetry Foundation. Ewing also writes the Ironheart comic book series for Marvel. She co-directs Crescendo Literary, a partnership that develops community-engaged arts events and educational resources as a form of cultural organizing. She is also the host of the podcast Bughouse Square with Eve Ewing.

Eve has been an educator in both traditional and community-based settings, including Chicago Public Schools, After School Matters, Harvard University, and Wellesley College. At the University of Chicago, she teaches courses on race and education for undergraduate and graduate students. She is also an instructor for the Prison + Neighborhood Art Project, a visual arts and humanities project that connects teaching artists and scholars to men at Stateville Maximum Security Prison through classes, workshops and guest lectures. She is on the Board of Directors of MassLEAP, a non-profit organization dedicated to building and supporting spaces for youth, artist-educators, and organizers to foster positive youth development through spoken word poetry forums throughout Massachusetts.

Born and raised in the Logan Square community of Chicago, Eve is a proud alumna of Chicago Public Schools. She completed her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to that, she received an undergraduate degree with honors in English Language & Literature from the University of Chicago, with a focus on African-American literature of the twentieth century. She also holds an MAT in Elementary Education from Dominican University and an M.Ed in Education Policy and Management from Harvard. She loves her family and friends, music, art, cartoons, traveling, reading, and food (especially fried chicken and carne asada tacos).