Dr. Amber Bryant

Assistant Professor Amber Bryant is a Detroit-native and a graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2012, Dr. Bryant received her M.A. in Teaching Secondary English from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Amber taught high school English for several years in NC and eventually continued her academics in urban education, literacy, and urban policy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she completed her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in 2018.

Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan State, Dr. Bryant worked as a research area specialist at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. She also worked as the research assistant on the Taxonomy for Black History Month Programming in Public Libraries project funded by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). Her publication record includes a co-edited book, Global Perspectives on Issues and Solutions in Urban Education (2019), as well as multiple peer-reviewed articles published in reputable journals such as The Urban Review, The American Behavioral Scientist Journal, The Journal of Professional Counseling: Practice, Theory, and Research, and the Educational Law and Policy Review.

Dr. Bryant established Education for Equity, LLC. in 2018, a teacher professional development company designed to equip, encourage, and empower teachers in high-poverty, urban environments.

Recent Publications

Books and Articles 

Bryant, A. (in progress). A systematic review of educational research on social, economic, and intergenerational mobility.

Smith-Ruiz, D., Jason, K., & Bryant, A. (in progress). The psychological and physical well-being of African American grandmothers raising grandchildren: Examining the influence of intersectionality and the theory of color-blind racism.

Bryant, A. (submitted, February 2023). We Don't Have What We Can't Afford: Poverty, Urban Education, and Social Reform. Routledge Publisher. Book Proposal. 

Bryant, A. (2023). Third-world city: An autoethonography on growing up in Detroit and becoming an educator. In Farmer-Hinton, R.L., Lewis, J.D., Patton, L. D., and Rivers, I.D. (Eds.), Re-authoring Savage Inequalities: Counter-Narratives of Striving and Success in Urban Education. State University of New York Press. New York, NY.

Bryant, A., Watson, M., Allen, A., Lewis, C. (2021). What do we do in the meantime? Practical solutions for eliminating educational inequities in urban schools right now. In Sealey-Ruiz, Y. and Huck, D. (Eds.), Purposeful Teaching and Learning in Diverse Context: Education for Access, Equity, and Achievement.

Benson, T., Bryant, A.C., Gezer, T. (2020). Segregation within integrated schools: racially disproportionate student-teacher assignments in middle school. Education Policy Analysis Archives.

Bryant, A. (2020). Helping you to “Beat the Odds”: High-poverty, high-achieving success models for administrators. In Shankar-Brown, R. (Eds.), Bending the Arc towards Justice: Equity-Focused Practices for Educational Leaders.

Robinson, P., & Allen, A., Bryant, A. C. & Lewis, C. (2019). Global issues and urban schools: Strategies to effectively teach students in urban environments around the world. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. 

Parikh-Foxx, S., Kennedy, J., Dameron, M.L., & Bryant, A. C. (2019). A phenomenological exploration of diversity in counselor education. Journal of Professional Counseling: Practice, Theory, and Research.

Funding 

Alexander, J.T., Bryant, A.C., Bleckley, D.A. & Genadek K.R. (2021). Whose war? Whose peace? Quantifying racial inequality in the impacts of the WWII G.I. Bill ($49,156). OVPR Anti-Racism Grant. Funding source: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Role: Co-investigator.

Presentations

Bleckley, D., Lafia, S., Bryant, A., Genadek, K., & Alexander, J. (August, 2023). Newly-linked G.I. Bill mortgage data as a resource for place-based life course research. Data-intensive research conference. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Paper presentation.

Bryant, A. (2023, April). A systematic review of educational research on social, economic, and intergenerational mobility. 2023 American Educational Research Association Annual Conference (AERA). Chicago, IL. Paper presentation

Bryant, A. & Foley, D. (2022). NCSES Data Tools and Researcher Forum: Informational Session. Partnership for Expanding Education Research in STEM (PEERS) Data Hub, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Virtual.

Bryant, A. (2022). NSF Grant Preparation Workshops: Building Capacity & Leveraging Technologies in STEM Education Research. Partnership for Expanding Education Research in STEM (PEERS) Data Hub, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Virtual. 

Bryant, A. (2022). PEERS Data Hub: Your One-Stop-Shop for STEM Education Research. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  ICPSR Data Fair. Virtual. 

Bryant, A. & Beltran, T. (2022) Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD): Informational Session. ICPSR Data Fair, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Virtual. 

Bryant, A. (2020). Prison Creative Arts Project: New Member Orientation and Training. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Panel Discussion.

Bryant, A. (2020, February). A Quantitative Analysis of Per-Pupil Spending and Academic Outcomes in Michigan Public Schools. Racism Lab MLK Symposium: Building an Interdisciplinary Science on Structural Racism. Institute for Social Researcher. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. Poster Presentation.