Dr. Shyla González-Doğan is an assistant professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU. Her educational training is in anthropology, education, and Middle Eastern studies from the University of Arizona and Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research agenda focuses primarily on identity formation and practices of inclusion and exclusion in community-based spaces. She is interested in the unique role that community-based spaces can play in the lives of attendees, particularly those who have a minoritized identity.
Dr. González-Doğan has done work on North Caucasian identity in Turkey and how community centers are used as sites for cultural revival. She has also worked on colorism and race relations in Islamic institutional settings in the United States. In that project, she examined how community-based spaces can provide a sense of “safety” for community members and how colorism and discrimination can destroy that sense of safety and belonging.
Prior to joining MLFTC, she taught at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. She also has experience teaching in the K-12 school system and was the principal of a private K-5 Islamic school.