The Stanford Center for Racial Justice (SCRJ or Center) is excited to announce the appointment of Hoang Pham as Policy Advisor and Program Manager, effective May 9, 2022. Hoang joined SCRJ in August 2021 as a Research and Policy Fellow. During these formative months of growth at the Center, he has worked tirelessly to help us develop baseline knowledge and research for a variety of projects, including our Ahmaud Arbery webinar, our Democratizing Knowledge series launch examining the reasonable officer standard for evaluating police use of force, and a compilation of timely resources that has evolved into our forthcoming Racial Justice Weekly. He has also conducted extensive research to support SCRJ Faculty Director/Professor Rick Banks‘ new book on education inequality and led efforts to start our first internship program this spring.

In his new, expanded role, Hoang will lead research in selected substantive policy areas as the Center continues to grow and evolve, and will also continue his work on various existing research and policy initiatives. In addition, he will oversee campus engagement and programming, including hiring and supervising interns, research associates, and research fellows. Hoang will report to SCRJ Executive Director George Brown.

A native of Portland, Ore., Hoang received a B.S. from the University of Oregon in Political Science and Ethnic Studies. He spent six years working as an elementary school teacher in South Los Angeles and was the recipient of two prestigious national teaching awards recognizing the profound impact he had on students, families, and the community. While teaching, he earned an M.A. in Urban Education at Loyola Marymount University, and in 2014 was named a School of Education Alumni Change Agent. Following his teaching career, Hoang served as an education consultant for four years at the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, where he trained educators across the country.

During his time consulting, Hoang pursued a J.D. at the University of California, Davis School of Law, where he was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Interest Scholar—awarded to the two members of each incoming class who best represent the spirit of Dr. King’s efforts to achieve social and political justice. He clerked at the National Center for Youth Law and Public Advocates, supporting impact litigation related to racial disparities in school discipline and the disproportionate placement of Black and Latinx students in remedial college courses.

Hoang was also part of numerous efforts to advance juvenile justice and education policy in the California State Legislature, including successfully moving a bill aimed at improving reading instruction and increasing teacher diversity through an entire legislative session. In 2019, he began conducting research with the California School Discipline Project and continues to study the impact of exclusionary discipline policies and reforms in low-income schools serving predominantly Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students.

Hoang recently published “The Critical Case Brief: A Practical Approach to Integrating Critical Perspectives in the 1L Curriculum” in the book Integrating Doctrine and Diversity: Inclusion & Equity in the Law School Classroom. His first opinion editorial argues for the need to center Black youth in K-12 policymaking, published in The Hechinger Report and titled “We should not leave Black students out of any debate to reinvent schools.”

Hoang is admitted to practice law in the state of California.

It is with tremendous enthusiasm and joy that SCRJ congratulates Hoang on this well-deserved promotion!