Assistant Professor of Education
School of Education, Room 215
University of Colorado at Boulder
249 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: 303-492-6122
Fax: 303-492-7090
E-mail: Ben.Kirshner@colorado.edu

Ben Kirshner is an assistant professor in the area of educational psychology and adolescent development. His research examines how young people learn to overcome adversity, develop collective identities, and exercise agency in social and political arenas. His ethnographic research about youth activism led to findings about effective adult guidance strategies and the roots of collective agency. In recent work, funded by the Spencer Foundation, Dr. Kirshner developed a participatory action research study to understand the impact of a school closure on students. Dr. Kirshner also has an ongoing study of a community organization that mentors and supports young people who seek to become the first in their families to go to college. Dr. Kirshner communicates research findings to a range of audiences, including practitioners, community organizers,, and social science researchers. His publications have discussed youth civic engagement and activism, youth-adult research partnerships, and cultural influences on identity development.  He is a member of the American Educational Research Association and the Society for Research on Adolescence.  From 1993 to 1997 he was education program manager in a youth organization in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Education:
PhD Psychological Studies in Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2004
MTS Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, 1999
BA History and Religious Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI, 1993