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Ziyen Curtis (she/they) is a proud first-generation college/graduate student from Scranton, Pennsylvania. They hold a Masters of Arts in African American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in History, a Bachelor of Science in Global and International Studies with a specification in Culture and Identity, a minor in Women’s studies, a minor in Gender and Sexuality studies, and a certificate in Diversity studies from The Pennsylvania State University.

Ziyen is currently pursuing a joint PhD in History and Curriculum and Instruction. Their research interests include Black intellectual history, Black history historiography, inclusive and exclusive history curricula in the U.S., social studies curricula, and curricular orientations and historical valuations of Black history with reflections on class, race, and gender.

Awards and Honors
African American Studies Tom Shick Award, 2026
First Place Graduate Student Paper Award at the African American Studies Student Symposium, 2026
UW-Madison School of Letters and Science’s Community of Graduate Research Scholars (CGRS) Fellow, 2025-26
UW-Madison School of Education Graduate Research Scholar (Ed-GRS) Fellow, 2024-present

Research

Founding member of the SoulFolk Collective, the first ever research lab in the department of African American Studies at UW-Madison.

Co-authored book chapter abstract accepted for future publication in the book “Long Road to Parity: African American Education.”

Publications

Curtis, Z.C. (April, 2026). “The Dissemination of the Truth”: Black Educators’ Continued Fight for Social Studies Curricula, 1940-1970. Paper presentation for the American Educational Research Association. Los Angeles, CA.

Presentations

The American Education Research Association Conference, April 8-12, 2026.

Guest Speaker, (March, 2026) University Roundtable : “The SoulFolk Collective: Black Study as Freedom of Practice,” hosted by Office of the Secretary of Academic Staff, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Guest Speaker, (October, 2025). “The SoulFolk Collective: Explore Geographies of Resistance,” EPS/HIST 412, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Guest Lecture, (April, 2026). “Black Education,” AAS 101, University of Wisconsin-Madison.