Sarah A. Robert

Dr. Sarah A. Robert is an education policy researcher and international expert who studies how policy is enacted in schools. Dr. Robert is specifically concerned with the relationship between policy and gender and its intersectional qualities, engaging in long-term ethnographic studies to understand how and why policies work from the perspectives of the persons carrying them out each day in schools. Dr. Robert applies an interdisciplinary feminist critical framework to three areas of study: teachers’ work (secondary teachers); curriculum (social studies textbooks); and school food and gardens. Dr. Robert conducts comparative research across diverse national and international contexts, with a focus on the United States and Latin America’s Southern Cone.

• PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Educational Policy Studies (2008)
• MA, University of California, San Diego, Latin American Studies (2000)
• BA, University of Rochester, History and Political Science (1992)

• Invited Speaker; Red de Investigadores en Educación Chilena (Chilean Network of Education Researchers) http://www.riech.cl/2020/05/webinario-investigadores-en-educacion-en-tiempos-de-crisis-posiciones-eticas/; 2020-05-19;
• GSE Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award; GSE; 2019-05-03;
• Nominee: Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award 2018-2019; University at Buffalo, Graduate School; 2018-12-04;
• Faculty in Residency; Graduate School of Education; 2017-11-17;

• Why and how did Uruguay's law(s) change eating at school?; Foundation and Research Organization; UB Community for Global Health Equity; Awarded; (03/26/2020-05/22/2020)
• School food policies=What equity? A global critique.; Foundation and Research Organization; Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy; Awarded; (05/28/2018-05/24/2019)

• Globally integrated food systems, land use change and the double burden of malnutrition among small-holder farmers in the Dominican Republic; Foundation and Research Organization; Food Equity Ideas Lab, Community for Global Health Equity, University at Buffalo; Awarded; (05/29/2017-12/21/2018)

• Robert, S. A. (2015). Neoliberal education reform: Gendered notions in global and local contexts. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Robert, S.A., Pitzer, H.K., & Muñoz García, A.L., eds. (2016). Neoliberalism, Education Work, and Gender. Gender and Education 28(4). I am the co-editor of this special issue.

• Robert, S.A., Pitzer, H.K., & Muñoz García, A.L., eds. (2018). Neoliberalism, Gender, and Education Work. London: Routledge Special Issues as Books Series.
• Robert, S. A., & M. B. Weaver-Hightower (Eds.). (2011). School food politics: The complex ecology of hunger and feeding in schools around the world. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

• Gilbert, J., Schindel, A.E., & Robert, S.A. (2018). Just transitions in a public school food system? The case of Buffalo, NY. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 8(B, Supplement 2), 95-113.
• Robert, S.A., & Yu, M. (2018). Intersectionality in transnational education policy research. Review of Research in Education 42, pp. 93-121.
• Robert, S.A. (2017, Fall). U.S. Teachers as Policy Protagonists in Digital Public Spaces? Peabody Journal of Education 92 (4), pp. 521-36.
• Robert, S. A., & McEntarfer, H.K.* (2016). Teachers’ work, food policies, and gender in Argentina. In Jason Antrosio & Sallie Han (Eds.), Open Anthropology 4 (2), Food Anthropology.
• Robert, S.A., Pitzer, H.K.,* & Muñoz García, A.L.* (2016/17). Introduction: Neoliberalism, Gender, and Education Work. Gender and Education 29(1), 1-7.
• Robert, S. A., & McEntarfer, H.K. (2014). Teachers’ work, food policies, and gender in Argentina. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 45(3), 260–275.
• Robert, S.A. (2014). Extending theorisations of the global teacher: Care work, gender, and street-level policies. British Journal of Sociology of Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.940035 (27 pages)
• Robert, S.A. (2013). Incentives, teachers, and gender at work. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(31), 1–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v21n31.2013
• Robert, S. A. (2012). (En)gendering responsibility. A critical news analysis of Argentina’s education reform, 2001–02. DISCOURSE: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 33(4), 485–498.
• McEntarfer, H.K.*, Skiba, D., & Robert, S.A. (2012). Entering into dialogue with the taboo: Reflective writing in a social work human sexuality course. Journal of Writing Research, 4(1), 81–105.
• Robert, S.A. (2012). “You must say goodbye at the school door:” The tense and contentious practices of an educational researcher-mother in a neoliberal moment. Workplace: A journal for academic labor, 21, 36–44. Retrieve from http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/workplace/article/viewFile/182555/183705.
• Robert, S. A. (2009). Misturando-se nas universidades brasileiras: Analisando processos de globalização em políticas de ação afirmativa. [Blending into Brazil’s universities: A content analysis of Affirmative Action policies]. Currículo sem fronteiras, 9(1): 193–213. Retrieve from http://www.curriculosemfronteiras.org/vol9iss1articles/robert.pdf.
• Gvirtz, S., & Robert, S. A. (2002). A new source for reconstructing the history of education and the classroom: Argentine primary school multi-task notebooks. History of Education Review, 31(1): 69–80.
• Mehan, H. B., & Robert, S. A. (2001). Thinking the nation: Representations of nations and the Pacific Rim in Latin American and Asian textbooks. Narrative Inquiry, 11(1): 195–215.

• Robert, S.A., Pitzer, H.K., & Muñoz García, A.L. (2018). Introduction to Neoliberalism, Gender, and Education Work. In Robert, S.A., Pitzer, H.K., & Muñoz García, A.L., Eds. London: Routledge Special Issues as Books Series.
• Robert, S.A. (2014). School lunch and gender. In P. B. Thompson & D. M. Kaplan (Eds.), Encyclopedia of food and agricultural ethics, 1st edition (pp. 1638-1641). Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.
• Robert, S.A. (2013). Textbooks. In J. Ainsworth (Ed.), Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z guide. (Vol. 2, pp. 794–797). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
• Robert, S.A., & McEntarfer, H.K. (2013). Gender inequality: Occupational segregation of teachers. In J. Ainsworth (Ed.), Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z guide. (Vol. 1, pp. 309–311). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
• Robert, S.A., & Swalwell, K. (2013). Field Trips. In J. Ainsworth (Ed.), Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z guide. (Vol. 1, pp. 284–285). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
• Robert, S.A., McEntarfer, H.K.,* & Amin, K. (2013). The tale of the teacher educator and storyteller: Pedagogical counterstories to lecturing in a teacher education program. In E. Daniels & B. Porfilio (Eds.), Dangerous counterstories in the corporate academy: Narrating for understanding, solidarity, resistance, and community in the age of neoliberalism (pp. 83-96). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Robert, S. A. (2010). Cravin’ the Cravens school-university learning experiences. In P. H. Biehl (Ed.), Cravens’ world (pp. 39–42). Buffalo, NY: University at Buffalo Art Galleries. Internally reviewed publication.
• Robert, S. A. (2001). ¿Qué o quién controla los cambios de género en la historia nacional? El caso de los factores de produción [What or who controls changes to gender in national history? The case of production factors.] In M. Rodriguez & P. Dobaño Fernandez (Eds.), Los libros de texto como objeto de estudio [Studying Textbooks] (pp. 130-142). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial La Colmena.

• Robert, S.A. (2019, April 3). Review of Comparing ethnographies: Local studies of education across the Americas by K. Anderson-Levitt & E. Rockwell. Education Review 26. http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/er.v26.2521.
• Robert, S. A., & Smith, A. M.* (2009, April 20). Review of the edited book Reforming Teaching Globally, by M.A. Tatto (Ed.). Education Review, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev790.htm. (6 pages)
• Robert, S. A. (2007, October 25). Review of the book Could it be otherwise? Parents and the inequities of public school choice, by L. N. Andre Bechely. The Teachers College Record. Retrieve from http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=14687
• Robert, S. A. (2004, July 30). Review of the book Sindicalismo docente y reforma en América Latina [Teachers’ unions and reform in Latin America], by G. Tiramonti & D. Filmus. Education Review, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev288.htm. (Available in English, 9 pages, and Spanish, 10 pages).

• Robert, S.A., & Werner, M. (2017). Inter-disciplinary fieldwork on food systems in the Caribbean: Global market integration, land use, and the double burden of malnutrition [Blog post]. Retrieve from https://www.buffalo.edu/globalhealthequity/articles-and-reflections.host.html/content/shared/www/globalhealthequity/articles-and-reflections/inter-disciplinary-fieldwork-on-food-systems-in-the-caribbean--g.detail.html.
• Robert, S.A. (2017, September 5). On Fire Safety Education. The Buffalo News, Everybody’s Column.
• Robert, S.A. (2014). School lunch and gender. In P. B. Thompson & D. M. Kaplan (Eds.), Encyclopedia of food and agricultural ethics (pp. 1638-1641). Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.
• Robert, S. A. (2011, May 19). Buffalo’s frustrated parents using their clout wisely. Buffalo News, Another Voice. Retrieve from http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/from-our-readers/another-voice/article427148.ece.
• Robert, S. A. (2010, Summer-Fall). Does lecturing have a place in the social studies classroom? Social Science Docket, 10(2), 5. Retrieve from http://www.nyscss.org/Resources/Documents/Volumne%2010%20number%202.pdf
• Robert, S. A. (2000). ¿Quién determina la historia nacional? Representaciones de género en los manuales de historia Argentina, 1941-1999 In the Instituto Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de Género, Voces en conflicto, espacios de disputa. Proceedings from the VI Jornada de historia de las mujeres y I Congreso Iberoamericano de estudios de las mujeres y de género. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Robert, S. A. (2000). ‘Thinking the nation’: Representations of nations and the Pacific Rim in Latin American and Asian textbooks. University of California at San Diego, Pacific Rim Program at the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS). Working Paper #19. San Diego, CA: CILAS. (29 pages)
• Doubly burdened: Addressing malnutrition and learning in the Dominican Republic.

• Robert, S.A. (2020, 19 May) Investigadores en educación en tiempos de crisis: Posiciones éticas. [Education researchers during crises: Ethical positions.] Webinario International por Facebook Live y Zoom, Red de Investigadores en Educación Chilena.;
• Robert, S.A. (2019, July 9). Movimentos Sociais, Sindicalismo e Análise da Conjuntura Internacional. VII Seminário Internacional da Rede de Pesquisadores-as sobre associativismo e sindicalismo dos trabalhadores-as em educação (REDE ASTE). Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal.;
• Robert, S.A. (2019, October 24). How gender “works” in education. A view from the Americas. University at Buffalo, Feminist Research Alliance.;
• Invited Discussant. 2019International Perspectives on Teacher Effectiveness and Quality. American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON, CA, April 5-9.;
• Movimentos Sociais, Sindicalismo e Análise da Conjuntura Internacional. VII Seminário Internacional da Rede de Pesquisadores-as sobre associativismo e sindicalismo dos trabalhadores-as em educação (REDE ASTE), Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal, July 9, 2019.;
• Neoliberalism, Intersectionality, and Teachers’ Work. Super Feminist Seminar, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Department of Sociology, Madison, WI, January 25-26, 2019.;
• World Education Research Association’s (WERA) International Research Network on Families, Educators, and Communities as Educational Advocates. Speaker at 1-day symposium. April 4, 2019.;
• Visiting Lecturer, Neoliberalism, Schools, and Teacher Education in Argentina, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institute for Educational Science, Germany.;
• Visiting Lecturer, Neoliberalism, Schools, and Teacher Education in the United States, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institute for Educational Science, Germany.;
• Robert, S.A. 2015. Neoliberalism, Schools, and Teacher Education in Argentina and the United States. Invited Lecturer, Georg-August-Universitaet Gottingen, Institute for Educational Science, Germany;
• 2009 Location, location, location! How do contexts matter? Transatlantic Applied Research on Gender Equity Training Project and Quality in Gender+ Equality Policies in the European Union, Northeastern University.;
• 2009 Who is an “expert” and what constitutes “expertise”? Transatlantic Applied Research on Gender Equity Training Project and Quality in Gender+ Equality Policies in the European Union, Northeastern University.;
• 2006 Saying goodbye at the school door, Presidential Symposium: Chances and choices of lifetime: Work / family conflict, the academy, and the public interest, American Educational Researcher Association, San Francisco, CA.;

• Robert, S.A. (2020). Conflict, Policies-in-Process, and Policy Bundles: An anthropology of policy for challenging times. Paper accepted and to be presented at the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, October 7-11, 2020, Šibenic, Croatia. [postponed];
• Robert, S.A. (2020, November 18-22). “Chernobyl is on Fire”: A metaphor for women’s work before and during the global pandemic [paper presentation]. American Anthropological Association, St. Louis, MO, United States. [postponed];
• Yu, M., Edwards, E.B., Gonzales, S.M., Robert, S.A., & DeNicolo, C.P. (2020.) (Re)membering the motherscholar self: (Re)storing and (Re)storying ancestral ways amidst pandemic. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, April 9-12, Orlando, FL.;
• Robert, S.A. (2019, November). Intersecting Struggles, Difficult Collaborations, and Elusive Equity in a US Urban School District. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Vancouver, BC, CA.;
• Robert, S.A. (2020). Conflict, Policies-in-Process, and Policy Bundles: An anthropology of policy for challenging times. Paper presented at the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, October 7-11, 2020, Šibenic, Croatia.;
• Robert, S.A. (2020, November 18-22). “Chernobyl is on Fire”: A metaphor for women’s work before and during the global pandemic [paper presentation]. American Anthropological Association, St. Louis, MO, United States.;
• Robert, S.A., Ables, N., Ward, A. (2020). iGen(der): Teaching and learning with and for her/him/them. A workshop proposed for the University at Buffalo's Genteel Conference, March 27, 2020, Buffalo, NY. (Conference Cancelled.);
• Robert, S.A., Chiarella, M., & Haddad, V. (2020). Digital PSAs as curriculum and assessment. A power session at the National Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference, December 4-6, 2020, Washington, DC.;
• Robert, S. A. (2019, April). Leveraging anthropology of education policy in a world turned upside down. Symposium Chair conducted at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON.;
• Robert, S.A. (2018). Is a labor and pedagogy of love enough? Urban school gardens as new education work places. 3rd Conference on Anthropology and Education: The Work of Education. Teachers’ College, Columbia University, New York, October 26.;
• Robert, S.A. (2019, April). “Respect MLK: Shut up and dress up!” Undermining democratic education in US public high school. In S.A. Robert (Chair), Leveraging anthropology of education policy in a world turned upside down. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON.;
• Robert, S.A. (2019, April). Is gender not enough? Intersectionality for contextualizing teachers’ work in transnational policy spaces. In S.A. Robert (Chair), Intersectionality and transnational education research for a new world order? Symposium conducted at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON.;
• Robert, S.A. (Chair). (2019, April). Intersectionality and transnational education research for a new world order? Symposium conducted at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON.;
• Robert, S.A. (Chair). (2018, April). Teachers strike! Comparative perspectives. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.;
• 2017 Intersectionality for Contextualizing Where, When, and Why Teachers Matter, Co-author with Min Yu. Teachers Matter - But where, when and why? Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden, 17-18 May 2017.;
• Robert, S. A. 2015. Neoliberal Education Reform: Global and Local Notions of Gender. American Anthropological Association, November 18-22. Denver, CO.;
• Robert, S.A., Schindel Dimick, A., and Raja, S. (2015). Food Deserts, Urban and School Gardens, Universal Free Lunch, and Environmental Education Curriculum: Mapping Food Systems Education in Buffalo, NY. American Anthropological Association, Denver, CO, November 18-22.;
• Robert, S.A. 2014. “Come see how we work!” Teachers, neoliberal education reform, and gendered labor. American Educational Studies Association, October 30-November 2. Toronto, ON, CA.;
• Robert, S.A. 2014. Digital stones at neoliberal goliaths: How workers are using technology to build power and influence policy, panel chair. Labor Research Action Network, Georgetown University, June 16-18. Washington, D.C.;
• Robert, S.A. 2014. Les importa enseñar:¿Transgresiones a la reforma neoliberal del estado? [Caring to teach: Transgressions to neoliberal state reform?] National Women’s Studies Association, November 13-16. San Juan, Puerto Rico.;
• Robert, S.A. 2014. Teachers, policy production, and neoliberal education reform in the USA, symposium organizer/chair. American Anthropological Association, December 4-8. Washington, D.C.;
• Robert, S.A. 2014. Teachers, social media, and policy protagonism: Rethinking the boundaries of work, place, and politics in the US context of neoliberal reform. American Anthropological Association, December 4-8. Washington, D.C.;
• Robert, S.A., Reed, L. 2015. Teachers, Social Media, and Policy: Rethinking Street-Level Bureaucracy in a Digital Age. American Educational Researcher Association, April 16-20. Chicago, IL.;

• Reviewer, Journal of Social Science Education
  09/01/2018-05/30/2019
• Reviewer for AERA - International Research Committee
  09/01/2018-09/30/2018
• Proposal Reviewer, International Scientific Committee, 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAULO FREIRE: THE GLOBAL LEGACY, 2017-18
  09/18/2017-12/22/2017
• Reviewer, AERA Books.
  08/21/2017-05/24/2018
• I review manuscripts for Cambridge Journal of Education.
  08/21/2017-05/24/2018
• Editorial Advisory Board Member, Policy Futures in Education
  05/30/2016-05/25/2018
• Reviewer, Education Policy Analysis Archives
  09/01/2014-05/30/2019

• Explore becoming editor in chief of the AESA journal, Educational Studies: interviews, prep of proposal.
  10/26/2018-02/15/2019
• Prepare Annual Report for AERA SIG-Teachers' Work/Teachers Unions
  06/03/2018-06/05/2018
• Arrange with Marianne Dixon, Regional National History Day Director, for UB Social Studies preservice teachers to engage with Buffalo Public School teachers and students through the National History Day program. UB SocSt teachers participated as coaches and as judges at the regional event.
  05/25/2018-05/25/2018
• Immediate Past Chair, AERA Special Interest Group - Teachers' Work / Teachers Unions - providing orientation to new executive committee, assisting with prep of annual meeting program, consultation during the year in regards to by-laws, awards, membership.
  05/01/2018-04/30/2019
• Began 1-year tenure as immediate past-chair, AERA SIG Teachers' Work/Teachers Unions. Responsibilities include orientation to SIG for all new Executive Board, advise throughout the year with elections, by-law amendments, ramping up to annual meeting (e.g., timeline, recruitment of reviewers, etc.), provide insight on new initiatives as needed.
  04/16/2018-05/25/2018
• Arrange for Social Studies pre-service teachers to conduct informational interviews with Buffalo Public School teachers at the Niagara Frontier Council for the Social Studies
  10/28/2017-10/28/2017
• Support the Dominican Republic’s Education Ministry officials responsible for rolling out the National School Food Program (breakfast, lunch, and snack) nationwide. LAI Latin American doctoral student collaborating on research.
  10/15/2017-05/25/2018
• Niagara Frontier Council for the Social Studies Professional Development Committee, 2017-
  10/14/2017-05/24/2018
• Advisory Committee, Urban Education and Teacher Unionism Policy Project, New Jersey City University, 2015-
  05/18/2015-05/24/2018
• Elected Chair, Special Interest Group, Teachers' Work/Teachers Unions, American Educational Research Association Responsible for running executive committee meetings. Setting agenda for annual conferences. Organizing communication for international collective of scholars, teachers, and union representatives. Communication with fellow SIGs and with AERA national. Facilitating elections. Negotiating publishing opportunities for SIG with publishers.
  04/27/2015-04/16/2018