College of Education and Human Development

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Vichet Chhuon

  • Associate Professor

  • Office Hours

    by appointment

Vichet Chhuon

Areas of interest

Motivation; Urban Education; Racial and Ethnic Identities; Adolescent Development; School Connectedness; Immigrant Youth; Asian American Studies.

Degrees

PhD University of California, Santa Barbara
culture and teaching

Biography

My research has broadly focused on the experiences of immigrant youth and students of color to understand how school institutions might better help them realize their promise. For example, some of my work has focused on the academic and ethnic identities of Cambodian-American students. My other writing has examined how notions of belonging and being known matter for young people's identities and relationships with teachers and other significant adults in school.

Currently, I am interested in how immigrants and families navigate immigration policies, school systems, and other opportunity structures in pursuit of meaningful lives in the United States and abroad.

Associations/Memberships

Courses

  • CI 5164: Child & Adolescent Development for Teaching and Learning
  • CI 3150: Special Topics on Southeast Asian Students in the United States
  • CI 8133: Research Methods in Curriculum & Instruction
  • CI 8148: Qualitative Research Methods in Education
  • CI 8151: Research and Paradigms in Teacher Education
  • CI 8159: Racial & Ethnic Identities in Teaching and Learning

Awards and Distinctions

  • 2021: Marty and Jack Rossman Research Award, CEHD, University of Minnesota
  • 2015: Carl A. Grant Presidential Research Award, National Association for Multicultural Education
  • 2015: Early Career Achievement Award, Association for Asian American Studies
  • 2015: Multicultural Faculty Recognition Award, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota
  • 2014: Imagine Funds Grant Program for Arts, Design, and Humanities, University of Minnesota
  • 2013: Early Career Contributions Award, American Educational Research Association, Committee on Scholars of Color in Education

In the News

"Cambodian American Identities, Families, and Futures with Vichet Chhuon," October 22, 2021, Southeast Asia Crossroads podcast, Northern Illinois University

"The Deep Roots and Long Reach of Immigration Policy,"  April 17, 2018, Pollen

"Counterpoint: Teachers of Color and American Indian Descent in Minnesota are Crucial," April 5, 2017, Star Tribune

“8 Cambodian Refugees in Minnesota Prove Why Deportations Must be Stopped,” Apr 1, 2017, HuffPost

“‘Painting is to easel’ South High students unearth racism in standardized testing,” Jan 26, 2016, TC Daily Planet

Publications

Chhuon, V., Nin, C., & Srey, Jenny (in press). Organizing inside and out: The ReleaseMN8 campaign. In D. Wong and M. Tsend-Putterman (Eds.), Contemporary Asian American Activism. New York: NYU Press. 

Ambiguous Loss for Cambodian American Deportees and Their Families (2022, w/ Marina Aleixo & Catherine Solheim). Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.

Making visible the invisible: Multi-study investigation of disproportionate special education identification of U.S. Asian American and Pacific Islander students (2020, w/ A. Sullivan & T. Kulkarni). Exceptional Children, 86(4), 449-467.

The problematization of Cambodian adolescent boys in US schools: Beyond the model minority stereotype (2015). In G. Conchas and M. Gottfried (Eds.), Inequality, Power, and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education, (pp. 41-61). New York: Routledge. 

Proximal processes in urban classrooms: Engagement and disaffection in urban youth of color (2014, w/ Tanner Lebaron Wallace). American Educational Research Journal. 51(5), 937-973.

Racialization of abilities and disabilities in US schools: Asian American and Pacific Islander students in gifted and special education (2013, w/ Amanda Sullivan). Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations, 20(2), 49-59. 

Creating connectedness through Being Known: Fulfilling the need to belong in US high schools (2012, w/ Tanner Lebaron Wallace). Youth and Society, 46(3), 379-401.

Subdimensions of adolescent belonging in high school (2012, w/ Tanner Lebaron Wallace & Feife Ye). Applied Developmental Science, 16(3), 1-18.  

Motivation for academic achievement in urban American schools (2012, w/ Cynthia Hudley). In K.Gallagher, R. Goodyear, D. Brewer and R. Rueda (Eds.), Urban Education: A Model for Leadership and Policy, (pp. 271-282). New York: Routledge.

Asian American ethnic options (2010 w/ Cynthia Hudley). Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 41(4), 341-359. 

The multiple worlds of successful Cambodian American students (2010, w/ C. Hudley, M. Brenner, & R. Macias). Urban Education, 45(1), 30-57.

Factors supporting academic engagement among Cambodian American high school youth (2010, w/ A. Dosalmas & N. Rinthapol). Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, 5, 1-14.

A model of Mexican American academic achievement: Perceived parental educational involvement, acculturation and self-esteem (2009, w/ F. Carranza, S. You, & C. Hudley). Adolescence, 44(174), 313-333.

A little district that could: The process of building district-school trust (2008, w/ E. Gilkey, M. Gonzalez, J. Chrispeels & A. Daly). Educational Administration Quarterly, 44 (2), 257-281.