Ryan T. Knowles is an Associate Professor of Social Studies Education and Cultural Studies in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University. His research uses quantitative methods to investigate how teacher and student ideologies develop and influence classroom practice, with broader interests in civic education, democratic theory, and curriculum design. Ryan has published widely in leading journals, including Theory and Research in Social Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, the Journal of Social Studies Research, the Journal of Curriculum Studies, Educational Psychology, and Environmental Education Research. He is a co-author of Education for Democracy: A Renewed Approach to Civic Inquiries for Social Justice.
His work has been supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and Utah State University, and his contributions have been recognized with the IEA Wolf Award for significant contributions to education research, the Social Justice Award from the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Researcher of the Year Award from Utah State’s School of Teacher Education and Leadership. At Utah State, he directs the Ed.D. program and the Cultural Studies doctoral program while teaching courses in social studies education, curriculum theory, and research methods.
