Travis J. Bristol is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Before joining Berkeley’s faculty, he was a Peter Paul Assistant Professor at Boston University. Dr. Bristol’s research is situated at the intersection of educational policy and teacher education. Using qualitative methods, he explores three related research strands: (1) the role of educational policies in shaping teacher workplace experiences and retention; (2) district and school-based professional learning communities; (3) the role of race and gender in educational settings.
Dr. Bristol’s research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Urban Education, the American Educational Research Journal, the Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, and Harvard Educational Review. He is currently co-editing (with Conra Gist) The Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color, which will be published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, Ford Foundation, and AERA awarded Dr. Bristol dissertation fellowships in 2013. In 2016, he received the inaugural teacher diversity research award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. In 2019, Dr. Bristol received a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and an emerging scholar award from the Comparative and International Education Society, African Diaspora SIG. In 2020, he received a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. More recently, in 2021, Dr. Bristol received the Early Career Award from AERA (Division-K).
He is on the Board of Directors of Teach Plus; the National Center for Teacher Residencies; the Albert Shanker Institute; and the East Bay School for Boys. He is a former student and teacher in New York City public schools and teacher educator with the Boston Teacher Residency program. Dr. Bristol received his A.B. from Amherst College; an M.A. from Stanford University; and a Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.