Vivian Shuh Ming Louie

Associate Professor of Education

Profile

Vivian Louie is a sociologist who studies the intersection of social class and culture in the education and identities among immigrants and the children of immigrants. In one line of inquiry, Louie studies how the incorporation of immigrant parents in the United States influences their children’s high school to college transition and identity formation, from childhood to early adulthood. She examines such issues among diverse immigrant groups, mainly from developing nations, (e.g., Dominicans, Colombians, Russians, Chinese), and in certain cases, through comparisons to native born whites, blacks, and Latinos. In a second line of inquiry, Louie studies how migrants from Mainland China negotiate the cultural, language, and learning divides in graduate management programs in the United States that seek to prepare students to be leaders in the global economy, and their decision-making about whether to settle in the United States or return to Asia. In addition to her first book, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans, she has a second book manuscript in preparation, focusing on Dominicans and Colombians, and several articles and book chapters. She has been awarded postdoctoral fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, and a position as visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. A native of New York City, Louie received her doctorate in sociology from Yale University, and previously worked as a newspaper journalist and a lecturer in sociology at Harvard.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Yale University