Ed Liu

Ed.D.'04

Ed Liu, Ed.D.'04, is an assistant professor of educational theory, policy, and administration at Rutgers University. He received his doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he also served as Co-Chair of the Harvard Educational Review's editorial board and received a Spencer Research Training Grant. Ed earned his BA in History from Yale University and his MBA and AM in Education from Stanford University. Prior to attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he taught high school history in Oregon and established and directed Summerbridge Portland, a nonprofit educational program for low-income middle school students.

Ed's dissertation, "Information-rich, Information-poor: New Teachers' Experiences of Hiring in Four States," grew out of his work as a research assistant on the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, directed by Professor Susan Moore Johnson. In his dissertation study, he explored the role that school and district hiring practices play in determining the fit between new teachers and their schools, and the implications this might have for their satisfaction and retention. Ed's choice of this topic was influenced by his own experiences on both sides of the hiring table. Professors Susan Moore Johnson, Richard J. Murnane, and John B. Willett served as Ed's readers.

As an assistant professor at Rutgers, Ed is continuing his research on teacher hiring and retention, school improvement and organizational change, leadership, and education policy. He teaches in the educational administration program. Liu is co-author of Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools (Jossey-Bass, 2004), as well as a number of scholarly articles on new teachers' experiences in schools. His most recent article, "New Teachers and the Massachusetts Signing Bonus: The Limits of Inducements," was published in the Fall 2004 issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Ed was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.