Student Spotlight: Christopher Hu, Ph.D. Social Foundations

Before beginning his master’s and doctoral programs in the social foundations of education at the UVA School of Education and Human Development, Christopher Hu taught high school chemistry.

“When I was teaching chemistry, it wasn’t the content that was moving my heart,” Hu said. “It was interacting with my students, building relationships with them, and being a mentor.”

When he realized how much he enjoyed exploring some bigger questions about education during a course he took part-time, he was torn about whether to leave teaching.

“In my teaching, I saw how a lot of racial and class issues were really prominent and embodied in my students,” Hu said. “A lot of my interest in understanding these two social formations—race and class—stems from my personal experiences teaching students from racially minoritized or working-class backgrounds.”

After teaching for five years, Hu stepped away from the classroom and now considers himself an ethnographer of education. As a student scholar, he is exploring how and why race and ethnicity matter so much in education.

“Why are certain communities or groups associated with high levels of academic success? And conversely, why are certain groups associated with educational ‘failure,’ as our culture has constructed and defined those terms,” Hu said.

The work of an educational ethnographer or anthropologist is to understand large cultural phenomena. Instead of developing and testing an intervention to support individual students or classrooms, Hu and scholars like him are curious about more clearly understanding bigger questions about what is impacting education.

Even though Hu is a second-generation Taiwanese American, his research on the racialization of students, especially Asian Americans, expands far beyond his own experience.

“There are these myths that Asian Americans are super hardworking and intelligent, but these explanations often don't recognize the presence of broader structural forces and processes,” Hu said. “Why are Asian Americans associated and racialized in this manner? That is one of the questions I’m asking.”

Hu believes that more accurately conceptualizing these kinds of issues can help scholars hone in on solutions that create more just and equitable educational systems.

Faculty Mentors

Hu credits his growth as a scholar to faculty both inside and outside of his area of study, especially his advisor, Associate Professor Diane Hoffman.

“It has been the privilege of my life and my career to be a student under Professor Hoffman,” Hu said. “Even though we focus on different subjects or topics of study, I've learned a lot from her. She has trained me in ethnographic methods and to think about education from a broader social, cultural and political lens.”

Like his fellow Ph.D. students, Hu is not waiting until graduation to share his scholarship with the world. With support from faculty, including Hoffman and Chris Chang-Bacon, assistant professor in curriculum, instruction and special education, Hu has authored and co-authored several research articles.

“Chris Chang-Bacon has also been really instrumental,” Hu said. “I'm not formally his student. But I do work with him a lot. He was willing to allow me to work with him on a few projects. I'm really thankful to him for being a great mentor, and for giving me so many opportunities to write and to do research with him.”

Hu’s first solo-authored article, which was published in November of 2023, began as a paper in one of Chang-Bacon’s classes. In addition to his faculty support, Hu also credits the publication review process for helping him think through his research.

“One of the reviewers was so generous and basically said, the author is missing the contribution of this work and that I needed to go back and rethink this because I could write something very groundbreaking from this work,” Hu said. “So, I spent maybe six or eight months working on it to reframe the analysis and really focus on Asian American racialization and then got it accepted.”

To current or future students, Hu’s advice is to say “yes” to as many opportunities as possible. “Be willing to pursue opportunities outside of your comfort zone and to take advantage of the many resources that an institution like UVA provides. And if you want these opportunities, you have to reach out, take the initiative, and ask.”