Ernest Davis Morrell

Ernest Morrell is the Coyle Professor of Literacy Education, a member of the faculty in the English and Africana Studies Departments, and Director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame. He is also director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts.

His scholarly interests include: critical pedagogy, English education, literacy studies, postcolonial studies, and youth popular culture. He has authored 15 scholarly books including Educating Harlem: A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community (Columbia, 2020), Stories from Inequity to Justice in Literacy Education, New Directions in Teaching English, and Critical Media Pedagogy: Teaching for Achievement in City Schools.

Since 2015, Morrell has been annually ranked among the top university-based education scholars in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings published by EdWeek. The awards he has received include the NCTE Distinguished Service Award, the Kent Williamson Leadership Award from the Conference on English Leadership, and the Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st-Century Literacies.

Morrell is an elected member of the National Academy of Education, an elected Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He received his Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley.