CJ Greer is one of five outstanding scholars joining the UW–Madison chapter of the national Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society this academic year.
The Bouchet Society commemorates the first person of African heritage to earn a PhD in the United States. Edward A. Bouchet earned a PhD in physics from Yale University in 1876. Since then, the Bouchet Society has continued to uphold Bouchet’s legacy.
Greer is pursuing a PhD in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, with a doctoral minor in Qualitative Research Methodology in Education.
“The 2024 Bouchet inductees are making key contributions in their disciplines, as well as to the research, education, and outreach missions of our campus. They truly embody the Wisconsin Idea and are exemplary in every way,” says Abbey Thompson, assistant dean for diversity, inclusion, and funding in the Graduate School.
Leveraging critical qualitative approaches, Greer’s research explores three areas: (1) the relationship between community-based educational spaces and PreK-12 schooling institutions, (2) how youth display leadership and activism in and outside the classroom, and (3) Critical Race Theory in education.
Greer is a University Council for Educational Administration Barbara L. Jackson Scholar, Institute for Research on Poverty Fellow, and Morgridge Center for Public Service Fellow. Through a year-long critical ethnographic case study approach that takes up his and Professor AJ Welton’s (forthcoming) extension of Critical Race Theory, coined Youth-Centric Critical Race Theory, his dissertation offers insights into the limited exploration of the greater Milwaukee area PreK-12 education landscape and Midwestern youth education activism.
Recent publications include “Conjuring the Devil: Historicizing Attacks on Critical Race Theory and White Saviorism,” which explores white supremacy’s perpetual attacks on Critical Race Theory and other equity-centered discourses, and “We in this thang together?: Black first-year doctoral students transitioning COVID and recreating community virtually,” which captures how Greer and two colleagues transitioned into graduate studies virtually during COVID-19 and publicized anti-Black racism.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Greer earned his bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and a dual master’s degree in educational leadership and policy and social work from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. Greer’s youth worker background inspired him to pursue becoming a community-focused tenure track professor.
“I feel immense joy and pride in having my service work recognized by such an illustrious national community as the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society,” Greer says. “Not many intellectual spaces purposely center on supporting others while also producing critical scholarship. It’s not lost on me the significance of having your name in conversation with the first African American scholar to obtain a PhD in the United States, Edward A. Bouchet. I look forward to continuously pushing to uplift those systematically pushed to the margins within and outside the classroom.”
The Bouchet Society serves as a network for scholars that uphold the same personal and academic excellence that Edward A. Bouchet demonstrated. Inductees to the UW–Madison Chapter of the Bouchet Society also join a national network with 20 chapters across the U.S. and are invited to present their work at the Bouchet Annual Conference at Yale University, where the scholars further create connections and community within the national Bouchet Society.
The UW–Madison Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement supports each inductee with a professional development grant.
Read more about Greer and the other honorees.