Simone Ispa-Landa
Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy | Associate Professor of Sociology
PhD, Harvard University, 2011
Simone Ispa-Landa is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She also holds the position of Associate Professor of Sociology and is a faculty fellow at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research. Ispa-Landa's publications cover topics of race and gender inequality, peer status hierarchies, and policy in K-12 and higher education environments, exploring students’ and teachers’ lived experiences of social policies and potential avenues for change.
Her recent projects include a partnership-oriented, engaged study that focuses on high school discipline, student attendance, and gender and sexual violence. Her projects have been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Currently, Ispa-Landa is working on a book project that examines accountability policy, race, and gender inequality at a suburban high school. This book is under contract with the University of California Press. She recently served as the Chair of the Sociology of Education section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). In addition, she is a contributing member of several editorial boards, including American Sociological Review, Sociology of Education, Gender & Society, and AERA Open.
Current Research
Ispa-Landa’s research encompasses three projects situated at the intersection of the sociology of education and multidisciplinary approaches to inequality in educational opportunities and access.
Connecting Students with Teachers. The first project stems from a collaborative partnership with a school district that aims to enhance opportunities for students of color to connect with teachers and thrive in a school district that serves a highly diverse and unequal community. This collaboration has led to a forthcoming book with the University of California Press.
Social Aspects of College. The second project delves into the social dimensions of college life, especially its impact on female-identifying students. It examines the interplay of race and gender in peer dynamics, incidents of party rape, and the complexities of elite youth party cultures.
A third project examines how sense of belonging and perceptions of the campus atmosphere relate to the mental health and well-being of religious minority students.
Selected Publications
Ispa-Landa, S. and S. Thomas. 2023. Navigating the risks of party rape in historically White Greek life at an elite college: Women’s accounts. Sociology of Education 96(3): 169–89.
Fine, G., H. Wohl, and S. Ispa-Landa. 2021. Reading routines: strategies of recall in graduate education. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education ahead-of-print.
Ispa-Landa, S. and M. Oliver. 2020. Hybrid femininities: Sorority rankings and reputation. Gender & Society 34(6): 893–921.
Conwell, J.,and S. Ispa-Landa. 2020. Principals in urban schools under pressure: relations with parents in the era of test-based accountability. Urban Education 58(9): 004208592093776.
Ispa-Landa, S. and S. Thomas. 2019. The emotional context of the principal role: Race, gender, and emotion work among school principals. Gender & Society 33(3): 387–409.
Ispa-Landa, S. 2018. Persistently harsh punishments amid efforts to reform: Using tools from social psychology to counteract racial bias in school disciplinary decisions. Educational Researcher 47(6): 384–90.
Ispa-Landa, S. and C. Loeffler. 2016. Indefinite punishment and the criminal record: Stigma reports among expungement-seekers in Illinois. Criminology 54(3): 387–412.
Ispa-Landa, S. 2016. Legitimizing family management: The role of adolescents' understandings of risk. Journal of Marriage & Family 78(2): 516–30.
Ispa-Landa, S. and J. Conwell. 2015. "Once you go to a white school, you kind of adapt": Black adolescents and the racial classification of schools. Sociology of Education 88(1): 1–19.
Ispa-Landa, S. 2013. Gender, race, and justifications for group exclusion: Urban black students bussed to affluent suburban schools. Sociology of Education 86(3): 218–33.
