Yali Zhou

University Endowed Professor for Global Leadership Studies

Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Director of the Asian American Studies Center, University of Houston

Dr. Yali Zou is a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and a university endowed professor for Global Leadership Studies at the University of Houston. She is also the director of the Asian American Studies Center at the university. She received her PhD in socio-cultural foundation from the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Zou is the author or co-author of eight books, including Power in Education, Healing Multicultural America, Ethnography and Education: Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Education, Ethnic Identity and Power: Cultural Contexts of Political Action in School and Society, Successful Management and Operation: In the Service Industry: A Cultural Perspective. She is a co-author of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) award-winning article, “The Embodied Nature of Narrative Knowledge: A Cross-Study Analysis of Embodied Knowledge in Teaching, Learning, and Life.”

Dr. Zou’s research interests include cross-cultural and transnational understanding, communications, ethnic identity formation, minority student academic achievement and global educational leadership. She has conducted a major Spencer Foundation Research Grant Project and a Spencer Foundation Research Forum to promote cultural diversity, educational equity and social justice. Current research projects focus on student challenges and racial issues in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic and global implications.

Dr. Zou is also an honorary guest professor at numerous universities in China: Central University for Nationalities (Beijing), Tianjin Normal University (Tianjin), Beijing Normal University’s Institute of Higher Education (Beijing), Jilin Huaqiao Foreign Languages University (Changchun), Shanghai Educational Science Academy (Shanghai), Northwest University for Nationalities (Lanzhou) and Changchun University (Changchun).