Dr. Marlee S. Bunch

Dr. Marlee S. Bunch is an interdisciplinary educator, scholar, and author whose work centers oral histories of Black educators, African American educational history, and culturally responsive teaching and leadership. She is a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow and currently serves as a Senior Research Associate with the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity & Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Dr. Bunch has over a decade of experience teaching across secondary and postsecondary contexts and has held leadership roles in curriculum development, educator preparation, and community-based educational initiatives.

Dr. Bunch is the author of The Magnitude of Us: A Teaching Guide for Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms (Teachers College Press), which received the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, the Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, and the National Council of Teachers of English David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research. She is also the author of Unlearning the Hush: Oral Histories of Black Female Educators in Mississippi in the Civil Rights Era (University of Illinois Press) and co-author of Leveraging AI for Human-Centered Learning. Her scholarship appears in peer-reviewed journals and public-facing venues including Radical Teacher, The Conversation, Black Perspectives, and NPR.

In addition to her research and writing, Dr. Bunch has served as Director of the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leadership Program at the University of Illinois, instructor at Smith College, and Director of Education for Race Project Kansas City. Her work uses oral histories to center lived experience, preserve intergenerational memory, and honor the voices of Black educators whose stories are too often left out of official records.

• Expertise & Research Interest

  Oral histories of Black educators from the Civil Rights era

  African American educational history and archival research

  Culturally responsive teaching and leadership

  Intergenerational memory, mentorship, and educational legacy

  Gifted education and inclusive instructional practices

  Pre-service teacher education preparation and mentorship

• Recent & Selected Publications

  Unlearning the Hush, University of Illinois Press, 2025

  Leveraging AI for Human-Centered Learning, 2025

  The Magnitude of Us, Teachers College Press, 2024

• Honors & Awards

  NAED Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, 2025

  David H. Russell NCTE Research Award, 2025

  Society of Professors Book Award for The Magnitude of Us, 2025

• Link to Project Page

  Marlee Bunch Website