Sara Ray Stoelinga

Sara Ray Stoelinga serves as the Sara Liston Spurlark Director at the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute (UEI) and is a Clinical Professor in the Committee on Education. She oversees all operations of UEI, which employs 500 staff and manages a $50 million budget while leading initiatives in applied research, urban teacher preparation, a charter school serving 1,700 students on Chicago's South Side, and the dissemination of research-based educational tools. An expert in teacher leadership, effectiveness, and urban school reform, Stoelinga teaches courses in public policy, human development, and the Urban Teacher Education Program. In recognition of her exceptional teaching, she received the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Undergraduate Teaching in Spring 2015, the University of Chicago's most prestigious teaching honor. Stoelinga holds both a B.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago.