Daniel Liou

Daniel D. Liou (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) is an associate professor at Arizona State University. His research advances the sociology of expectations by examining how assumptions about people, learning, and human possibility operate as socially situated and organizationally consequential forces that shape whose knowledge is valued, whose potential is cultivated, and what possibilities for learning and human flourishing become imaginable in the pursuit of a more just society.

Dr. Liou has authored more than 90 journal articles, book chapters, technical reports, and publicly engaged scholarship, with publications appearing in leading journals including Educational Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, Race Ethnicity and Education, and Urban Education. He serves as co-editor of the Review of Educational Research and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Critical Media Literacy, SoJo Journal: Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, and the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.

His commitment to educational equity spans more than three decades across PK–12 and higher education. He began his career as a middle school youth counselor at the San Francisco Community Youth Center before developing programs and services at Berkeley High School to support immigrant, refugee, and first-generation students and families in their postsecondary aspirations. In recognition of this work, he twice received the University of California, Berkeley’s Most Inspirational Award through the Asian Pacific American Student Development Office.

Dr. Liou's leadership also extends to educational policy and governance. From 2015 to 2020, he served on the Arizona Department of Education’s Equitable and Inclusive Practices Advisory Council, contributing to the development of the state’s first culturally inclusive teaching guidelines. From 2020 to 2024, he served on the Los Angeles College Prep Academy School Board, including three years as board president, where he advanced policies supporting educational equity, community partnership, students’ wellness and college-going success.

His scholarship has received numerous national and institutional honors, including the 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Distinguished Researcher Award from the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Education and Research Special Interest Group. At Arizona State University, he has received the Sun Award (2026), Excellence in the Scholarship of Engagement Award (2025–2026), Professor of Impact Award (2023), and Outstanding Promising Research Scholar Award (2017). Additionally, he received the AERA Social Justice Teaching Award in Educational Leadership (2015) for outstanding instruction in the field of educational administration. Across research, teaching, and service, these recognitions reflect Dr. Liou’s enduring contributions to advancing more equitable and transformative possibilities with schools and communities.