The Stanford Center for Racial Justice (SCRJ or Center) is excited to announce the appointment of Hoang Pham as Associate Director and Manager of Education Design, effective May 1, 2023. 

Hoang joined SCRJ in August 2021 as a Research and Policy Fellow and most recently served as Policy Advisor and Program Manager. During these formative years of growth at the Center, he has worked tirelessly to help us develop baseline knowledge and research for a variety of projects. He was instrumental in advancing our Innovation in Community Safety initiative, which seeks to understand what keeps communities safe and explore innovative solutions to lessen the harms faced by those who are most vulnerable. He also assisted with the development of the Center’s Model Use of Force Policy, a comprehensive model policy intended to contribute to the long line of efforts to improve and reform policing and promote practices that will be fair, safe, and equitable for everyone.

Over the last year, Hoang rapidly expanded opportunities for Stanford students across the University to engage in racial justice law and policy work at the Center, building the infrastructure for our quarterly internship program, practicum, and Summer Fellowship program. He directly supervises all of our students, as well as our research associates and law and policy fellows.

In his new and expanded role, Hoang will direct and lead research and policy in Education Design—a new SCRJ focus area aimed at understanding and developing law and policy-based solutions to address entrenched racial inequities in the U.S. education system. The Center’s Education Design for the Future initiative seeks to understand how we can establish systems of learning that recognize and address today’s racial disparities and equip all young people to prosper in a rapidly changing economy and society of the near future. Education Design from the Margins is an initiative in partnership with Professor Subini Annamma from the Stanford Graduate School of Education aimed at centering disciplined and incarcerated youth voices in education policy and practice.

In addition, Hoang will continue to grow our programming activities and engagement with key stakeholders on and off campus, and will assist in the design and development of seminars taught by SCRJ Executive Director George Brown and/or Faculty Director and Professor Rick Banks related to ongoing research initiatives.

A native of Portland, Ore., Hoang received a B.A. 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. He is admitted to practice law in the state of California.

Hoang recently published “Cultural Awareness, Relationships & More — Helping Teachers Deal With Discipline” in The 74 Million, arguing that reducing racial disparities in school discipline begins with empowering teachers. His 2021 opinion editorial in The Hechinger Report, “We Should Not Leave Black Students Out of Any Debate to Reinvent Schools,” discusses the need to center Black youth in K-12 policymaking. He’s also published a book chapter, “The Critical Case Brief: A Practical Approach to Integrating Critical Perspectives in the 1L Curriculum,” which offers a practical teaching tool to discuss inequity in first-year law courses.

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