Lang Visiting Professorship for Issues of Social Change
Endowed by Eugene M. Lang ’38, the Lang Visiting Professorship brings to Swarthmore outstanding social scientists, political leaders, and social activists whose careers demonstrate sustained engagement with major issues of social justice, civil liberties, human rights, and democracy. Along with the sponsoring academic department, the Lang Visiting Professorship is co-hosted by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
View the list of previous Eugene Lang Visiting Professors for Issues of Social Change.
Current Lang Visiting Professor
Ali received her B.A. in political science from Williams College (with highest honors awarded for her thesis in African Studies), and then a Watson Fellowship to study microcredit lending in Bangladesh, Senegal, and Ghana. In 2006, she earned her M.A. in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2012, she earned her Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied race with a particular focus on whiteness. Upon graduation, she was awarded the William E. Arnold award for contributions by a doctoral student for her campus work on whiteness.
Ali works with schools and organizations across the country to help make research on race, Whiteness, and education more accessible and relevant to practitioners. A nationally recognized speaker, Ali is the co-author of the surprisingly funny and inviting book Our Problem, Our Path: Collective Antiracism for White People (Corwin, 2022). She is also the co-adaptor of the Young Adult version of White Fragility: Why Understanding Racism Can be so Hard for White People (Beacon, 2022). Ali is the author of Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Inquiry and Education (Teachers College Press, 2015), winner of the 2017 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, and co-editor of several books produced by multiracial editorial teams, including the bestselling Guide for White Women who Teach Black Boys (2017, Corwin Press), Teaching Beautiful and Brilliant Black Girls (Corwin, 2021) and Everyday White People Confront Social and Racial Injustice (Stylus, 2015). Ali sits on the editorial board of the journal Whiteness and Education and teaches in Princeton University's Diversity and Inclusion Program.
In 2011 Ali co-founded the Race Institute for K-12 Educators, where she has been the Director or Co-director until 2026. As a consultant and educator, she has provided racial competency trainings for over 200 schools and prominent organizations, far too many too list here. Ali is also the co-founder and co-director of the Global Restitution Project, which maintains a global network of resource sharing and support, particularly between the United States and South Africa.
In 2022 her alma mater, Mt. Lebanon High School, awarded her the Great Alumni Award for social justice work that is welcoming, challenging, and accessible.
Ali’s current work, which focuses on understanding the attacks on DEI and how schools can respond, is available through her Substack @alimichaelphd. More info available at alimichael.org.
