Dr. Justin A. Gutzwa, Ph.D.
Michigan State University
Dr. Justin A. Gutzwa (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University. Shaped by their experiences as a queer, nonbinary, trans scholar, Justin employs critical theories and qualitative methods to dismantle deficit-based understandings of queer and trans communities in postsecondary education, particularly trans Communities of Color. Justin’s research has also interrogated systemic minoritization in postsecondary STEM education spaces. Their work has been published in a range of prominent education and science journals, including PLOS ONE, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Physical Review Physics Education Research, and Harvard Educational Review. Justin currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education, a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Women & Gender in Higher Education, and as the Program Co-Chair for the Queer Studies Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Justin graduated from Pomona College in 2014 with a B.A. in Anthropology before starting their career in student affairs administration, working in both undergraduate admissions and international student services. They received their M.A. (2018) and Ph.D. (2022) in Higher Education & Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles. Most recently, Justin served as a Postdoctoral Scholar with the PERU Group and the School of Social & Cultural Transformation (Transform) at the University of Utah.
Justin is also an avid pop culture junkie, particularly anything related to pop music. In their spare time, they co-host a pop music-centered podcast, Bopcorn, with their best friend Will Hunt. Justin also was featured as a model in Glow Recipe’s Dew You Anonymous Open Casting Campaign, the first anonymous casting campaign in the beauty & cosmetics industry, which worked to open a conversation on inclusivity and representation within media and beauty.
Areas of Research
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Trans* Collegians' Classroom Experiences
Justin’s current projects center the narratives of trans* collegians as they navigate classroom spaces at their institutions of higher education. Their work in this area has been presented at conferences including ASHE and AERA, and published in journals such as Journal of Women & Gender in Higher Education.
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Funds of Identity
When ascertained, funds of identity, or the lessons individuals internalize from familial resources that shape how they navigate the world around them, are powerful tools that can be used to disrupt deficit-narratives of minoritized communities in education. Justin’s work is primarily rooted in this approach, and they have written empirical and theoretical pieces expanding how funds of identity is understood as a framework.
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Systemic Minoritization in STEM Education
As STEM fields grow in size and importance, it is necessary to critically examine the ways systemically minoritized communities experience exclusion from STEM educational environments. As a member of multiple STEM-based research teams, Justin’s work has interrogated efforts to broaden participation in computing (with Momentum), biomedical sciences (with CEC), and physics education (with the PERU Group).