This photo was taken from a blackboard after a Middlebury January 2019 term class discussion about ideology and politics. These questions (as described by the sociologist Goran Therborn via the sociologist Erik Olin Wright) form the basis of ideology. Eleni is still thinking about these questions.
Academic Research Papers
Dissertation
My dissertation is a political biography of the Milwaukee’s teachers’ union, Wisconsin’s largest public-sector union, and its unsteady path towards social justice unionism. Through in-depth archival research, including analyses of collections never previously examined, captivating oral histories of Milwaukee’s leading education activists, and rich ethnographic observations of the Milwaukee’s teachers’ union, this book provides a new narrative framework to consider educators’ labor power.
Peer-ReviewED Articles
Schirmer, E.B., (Aug. 2023). “’Sterilizing and Fertilizing the Plant at the Same Time”: The Class Formation of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association,” in History of Education Quarterly.
Schirmer, E.B. and Tarlau, R. (2022). “Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste: Organizing Opportunities for Labor Activists during Covid-19” in Journal of Labor and Society.
Schirmer, E., Wozniak, J., Morrison, D., Levy, R., and Gonsalves, “The other college debt crisis: institutional debt and higher education organizing” in The Journal of Academic Freedom. (2020, Vol. 12).
Schirmer, E. B. (2016). “When solidarity doesn’t quite strike: the 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin teachers’ strike and the rise of neoliberalism.” Gender and Education, 29(1), 8–27.
Schirmer, E., Wozniak, J., Morrison, D., Levy, R., and Gonsalves, J. (in press). “The other college debt crisis: institutional debt and higher education organizing” in The Journal of Academic Freedom.
Swalwell, K., Schweber, S., Sinclair, K., Gallagher, J., Schirmer, E. (2017) “In the aftermath of Act 10: The changed state of teaching in a changed state.” Peabody Journal of Education, 92(4).
Schirmer, E. & Apple, M.W. (February 2016). “Teachers, School Boards, and the Power of Money: How the Right Wins at the Local Level.” Educational Forum.
Schirmer, E., & Apple, M. W. (2016). Capital, Power, and Education: “Dark Money” and the Politics of CommonSense An Essay Review of Jane Mayer, ‘Dark Money: the Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right’. Education Review, 16(1), 1–15.
Schirmer, E., & Apple, M. W. (2018). Unchaining Democracy: An Essay Review of Nancy MacLean, ‘Democracy in Chains: the Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for American’. Education Review, 25(1), 1–13.
Schirmer, E., & Apple, M. W. (2014). Rethinking the Nature of Inequality and Labor: an Essay Review of Affective Equality. Education Review, 16(1), 1–15.
Review Essays
Book Chapters
Schirmer, E. & Apple, M.W., (2018). Struggling for the Local: Money, Power, and the Possibilities of Victories in the Politics of Education.” In Michael W. Apple (Ed.), The Struggle for Democracy in Education. New York: Routledge.
Schirmer, E., & Apple, M. W. (2017). Fighting For The Local: Americans for Prosperity and the Struggle for School Boards. In Helen M. Gunter, David Hall and Michael W. Apple (Eds.), Corporate Elites and the Reform of Education. Policy Press: Bristol, UK.
Schirmer, E., & Apple, M. W. (2016). Democracy, Charter Schools, and the Politics of Choice. In Jamel Donor and Tara Affolter (Eds.), The Charter School Solution: Distinguishing Fact from Rhetoric. New York: Routledge.
Awards
Frank L. Zeidler Labor History Award, Wisconsin Labor History Society Award recognized my paper, “‘Power Is Only What You Chose To Do With It’: The Social Movements the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association Spurned, 1970-1974” as most original research about Wisconsin labor and working class history. Received in 2020.
UALE New Generations Award, United Association of Labor Education Award for research paper, “When Solidarity Doesn’t Quite Strike: The 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin Teachers’ Strike and the Rise of Neoliberalism.” This award recognizes contributions from emerging labor scholars and educators in higher education, community-based organizations and labor groups. Received in 2017.
Herbert Kliebard Award, UW-Madison, Dept. of Educational Policy Studies Awarded to an EPS graduate student who exemplifies outstanding scholarly achievement in the field of Educational Policy Studies, in honor of the distinguished career of Dr. Herbert Kliebard. Received in 2017.
Eleni’s research has been supported by the Avril S. Barr dissertation fellowship, Tasha B. Morgridge dissertation fellowship and Albert Shanker Educational Research fellowship. Her research was awarded the "New Generation" award by the United Association of Labor Education as well as a Labor Research Action Network "New Scholars" research grant, as well as the Zeidler Labor History Award.
Teaching
Eleni has taught classes on the social foundations of education and the politics of education. At University of Wisconsin-Madison she designed and taught undergraduate introductory classes on “Education and Debt,” “Introduction to Educational Policy Studies,” “Democracy and Education,” and “School and Society.”
Since 2019, she has taught a one-month intensive course at Middlebury College titled “Educational Change and Teachers’ Strikes.” (In 2020, the class received attention from the Middlebury student paper.)
Teaching philosophy, syllabi, and course materials available upon request.