Daniel D. Liou is an associate professor of educational leadership at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. As a community-based researcher, Liou’s scholarship examines the sociological manifestations of expectations in the organization of classrooms, schools, and society, contextualizing educational practices in relational, curricular and institutional terms. In connecting theory to community engagement, Liou is one of the key co-authors of Arizona’s culturally inclusive teaching guidelines, supporting educators to enact research-informed practices for improving equity and excellence in schools. He currently serves as an elected member and the president of the Los Angeles College Prep Academy School Board, creating conditions in real time to support first-generation college-going students' academic success.
Liou is the author and co-author of seventy peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other publicly accessible scholarship. His work has appeared in academic journals including Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, Race Ethnicity and Education, Urban Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Additionally, Liou is an appointed associate editor for four academic journals: (1) Review of Educational Research, (2) Education Policy Analysis Archives, (3) International Journal of Modern Education Studies, and (4) the Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches. Liou also serves on the editorial board for the International Journal of Critical Media Literacy and the Educational Foundations and Social Justice Education Journal.
In 1996, Liou was recognized by the Berkeley Unified School District for his advocacy work with immigrant students and families, and in 1997 Berkeley High School presented him with the Excellence Service Award for building an effective family-school engagement program with the bilingual community. He twice received the Most Inspirational Award from the University of California at Berkeley for creating a K-12 outreach program to pair undergraduate mentors with first-generation, immigrant, and refugee students to support their college-going expectations. From 2015-2020, Liou served as an appointed member of the Equitable and Inclusive Practices Advisory Council at the Arizona Department of Education. In 2015, he was awarded the Social Justice Teaching Award in Educational Leadership from American Educational Research Association, and in 2017, the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College recognized him as its Outstanding Promising Research Scholar.