Meet the Faculty: Ernest 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 also serves as Associate Dean for the Humanities and Equity, College of Arts and Letters.

Ernest is also director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts. He 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).

Since 2015, Ernest has been annually ranked among the top university-based education scholars in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings published by EdWeek. Ernest is also the recipient of 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. His scholarly interests include critical pedagogy, English education, literacy studies, postcolonial studies, and youth popular culture. 

Ernest has authored 100 articles, research briefs, and book chapters and 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, which was awarded Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. Ernest has earned numerous commendations for his university teaching including UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He received his Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley where he was the recipient of the Outstanding Dissertation award.