Two CU Boulder education scholars earn prestigious National Academy of Education/Spencer dissertation fellowships

Earlier this year, the National Academy of Education (NAEd) announced two University of Colorado Boulder doctoral candidates, Jackquelin “Jackie” Bristol and Alexis “Lex” Hunter, have been named recipients of the 2025 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for emerging education scholars.

The fellowship recognizes exceptional doctoral research and provides funding and professional development to early-career scholars whose projects address critical issues in the history, theory and practice of education nationally and globally. 

Bristol and Hunter were selected as two of just 35 dissertation fellows chosen by leading education researchers from an extremely competitive pool of over 400 scholars.  

Bristol’s dissertation, “Teacher Housing Initiatives: An Embedded Case Study of Race, Place and the School-Housing Nexus,” explores how teachers access to affordable housing intersects with race, space and public education. Through mixed-methods research, including national surveys, interviews and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, she examines how the increasing precarity of housing experienced by teachers connects to their professional behaviors, struggles, views of work and subsequent accounts and descriptions of their teaching and its impact on their students—many whose families also face housing precarity.

Hunter’s dissertation, “We Have Everything We Need: Ancestral Healing Informing Pathways to Collective Liberation in the Lives of Youth of Color,” investigates how Black/African, Latine and Indigenous youth in community organizing spaces view healing as intimately connected to social justice. Drawing on Black/African extra-colonial traditions and healing justice frameworks, her work challenges Eurocentric models of mental health and offers insights for educators on supporting student well-being through culturally grounded, justice-oriented practices.

Both scholars are doctoral candidates in the CU Boulder School of Education’s Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice program. Hunter is also pursuing a dual focus in Learning Sciences and Human Development program.

With the support of the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, both Bristol and Hunter will have expanded opportunities to complete and share their impactful research, which is already contributing to more equitable and justice-centered approaches to education.

Bristol brings a sociological and critical geographic lens to her work, grounded in personal experiences with housing instability.

“Teacher Housing Initiatives are increasing across the country without a thorough examination of their efficacy—or their potential to unintentionally exacerbate the very issues they aim to address,” Bristol said. “With the Spencer Foundation's support, I am able to pursue in-depth, nuanced analysis of teacher housing initiatives: exploring when, where, why and how they may serve as meaningful interventions, and conversely, how they may reinforce existing inequalities.  

“This work also contributes to a broader understanding of the evolving role school districts are being asked to play in addressing challenges that extend well beyond the traditional scope of public education."

Hunter's research is informed by cultural memory, storytelling and her identity as a triplet.

“For me this fellowship expands my capacity to continue organizing while carrying out my three-article dissertation in community,” Hunter said. “This research is honoring how our lineages understand healing and collective liberation as a life practice, so receiving this fellowship is an aligned and sacred responsibility.”

Ben Kirshner, professor of learning Sciences and human development added: “I’m thrilled that Lex has received this recognition from the Spencer Foundation and National Academy of Education. Lex’s study is innovative in the way she uses participatory methods to explore the ancestral sources of healing among youth of color. Lex brings theoretical sophistication and a deep ethic of care to her research, which promises to take our field in needed directions.” 

Kirshner co-advises Hunter with Terrenda White, associate professor in the Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice program, who is also Bristol’s advisor. Both mentors are excited for what the future holds for Bristol and Hunter.

“This support often contributes to life-altering opportunities for the fellows," said White, a past NAEd/Spencer dissertation fellow herself. "At this critical time when we must continue to support educational research that expands our understanding of pressing challenges in society, these fellows and their work represent hope and a new future of creative and impactful scholarship.”