CV
Education
2017
Ph.D., History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2011
M.Phil., Political Thought and Intellectual History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
2008
A.B., Social Studies, cum laude, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Academic Appointments
2018-present
Assistant Professor of History, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL
Publications
Books
The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021).
Articles
“The Fight for a Public University in Boston: Making a Public-Private Educational System.” History of Education Quarterly 62, no. 2 (May 2022): 161-190.
“A ‘Good Mixer’: University Placement in Corporate America.” History of Education Quarterly 58, no. 1(February 2018): 33-64. (Winner of the History of Education Henry Barnard Prize for best graduate student article)
“Introduction: Learning Democracy in the New Gilded Age.” Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 16, no.4 (October 2017). (Introduction to Special Issue)
Book Chapters
“Radicalism and Conservatism.” In A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era: The Making of Modern America. Edited by Christopher Nichols and Nancy Unger, 362-378. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.
Review/Thematic Essays
“In Higher Education, Neutrality is not an Option,” The American Historian. June 2023.
Book Reviews
Degrees of Equality: Abolitionist Colleges and the Politics of Race, by John Frederick Bell. Journal of American History (December 2023) forthcoming.
Making Schools American: Nationalism and the Origin of Modern Educational Politics, by Cody Dodge Ewert. Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 21, no. 4 (October 2022): 346-348.
The Roots of Educational Inequality: Philadelphia’s Germantown High School, 1907-2014, by Erika Kitzmiller. Planning Perspectives 37, no. 5 (2022): 1104-1106.
Strategizing Against Sweatshops: The Global Economy, Student Activism, and Worker Empowerment, by Matthew S. Williams. Teachers College Record, March 29, 2021.
Funding the Rise of Mass Schooling: The Social, Economic and Cultural History of School Finance in Sweden, 1840-1900, by Johannes Westberg. History of Education Quarterly 58, no. 2 (May 2018): 310-313.
Those Good Gertrudes: A Social History of Women Teachers in America, by Geraldine Clifford. The New England Quarterly 88, no. 4 (December 2015): 727-729.
Popular Journals/Magazines
“Want to Address Inequality? Stop Waiting for Schools to Solve Everything.” Boston Globe Magazine. September 28, 2021.
“The Education Fix.” Dissent Magazine. February 12, 2021.
“How Education Embedded Inequality.” Institute of Arts and Ideas. January 20, 2021.
“Harvard’s Microcosm of Labor Inequality.” Public Seminar. February 14, 2017.
Digital Publications
People’s History Walking Tour of Boston. Labor Resource Center, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, 2017. https://peopleshistoryboston.wordpress.com/
Boston Research Map: Demography and Class, Work and Education in Boston, 1880-1930. Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) and Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2015. Map: http://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/historical_boston; Database: doi.org/10.7910/DVN/28677
Awards & Fellowships
2021
Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize for The Education Trap, co-winner
IPUMS USA Research Award, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota, for The Education Trap
2019-21
National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
2017
Henry Barnard Prize, History of Education Society for best Graduate Student Article
2015-16
National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
2015
Flaherty Visiting Fellowship, University of Massachusetts Boston
2015
Taubman Center Urban Dissertation Fellowship, Kennedy School of Government
2014
New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Grant
2014
Boston Area Research Initiative Research Seed Grant
2008
Lillian Bell Prize for Senior Thesis, History Department, Harvard University
Teaching
Lake Forest College (2018-present), Lake Forest, IL
Rights & Reaction: Modern US History
Latinx Chicago
Gender, Sex, and Power in U.S. History
Who Counts? US History by Census Data
Social Movements and Reform
Why College? A Chicago Story
History of Education in American Society
Immigration in U.S. History
American Cities
Inequality and Reform: U.S. 1865-1920
Introduction to Urban Studies
Harvard University (2013-2014), Cambridge, MA
Science & Religion in American History, Head Teaching Fellow
Democracy & Education in Modern America, Teaching Fellow
Social Thought in Modern America, Teaching Fellow
Moravian Academy (2009-2010), Bethlehem, PA
9th Grade Ancient History, Instructor
11th Grade U.S. History, Co-instructor
12th Grade AP European History, Co-instructor
Conference Presentations
2021
“Household Labor and Immigration Policy in Early 20th-Century Chicago” Social Science History Association Conference, November 12, Virtual
“Author Meets Critic: The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston, by Cristina Groeger” Social Science History Association Conference, November 11, Virtual
“Schools Can’t Save Us: Cristina Groeger’s The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” History of Education Conference, November 3, Virtual
“‘To Dignify Housework’: Professionalizing Household Labor in the Early-Twentieth Century United States” Labor and Working Class History Association Conference, May 26-28, Chicago, IL
“Historicizing Workplace Power and the Limits of Human Capital” Labor and Working Class History Association Conference, May 26-28, Chicago, IL
2020
“Educational Growth and Worker Power in the Early Twentieth Century” History of Education Society Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference, November 7, 2020
“Educational Growth and Worker Power in the Early Twentieth Century” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 2-5 (conference cancelled)
2019
“Measuring Social Class: Contextualizing Occupations in the 1880 U.S. Census” Social Science History Association Conference, Chicago, IL, November 21
“The Fight for a Public University in Progressive-Era Boston” History of Education Society Conference, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 3
“Who Benefits from Workforce Development?: Historical Perspectives on the DeVos Department of Education” History of Education Society Conference, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 1
“Immigration Policy and the Politics of Household Labor in the 20th-Century,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, April 4
2018
“Voting with Their Feet: Student and Family Perspectives on Vocational Education in Early 20th-Century Boston,” History of Education Society Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, November 1
“Schools, Skills, and the Origins of American Social Inequality,” presented at the Newberry Seminar in Labor History, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL, February 23
“The Science of Care: The Domestic Worker Labor Market and the Limits of Reform in Boston, 1880-1940,” presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 5
2017
“Domestic Service and Domestic Science in Progressive-Era Boston,” presented at the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Gender and Sexualities, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, June 1
“Servants and Schools: Educational Policy as Labor Policy in Progressive Era Boston,” paper presented at the Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 8
“Learning a Trade: The Politics of Industrial Training in Boston, 1880-1940,” paper presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, January 5
2016
“The Female Labor Market and the Rise of Secondary Education in Boston,” paper presented at the Social Science History Association Conference, Chicago, IL, November 19
“Becoming White Collar: Class, Gender, and Education in Boston, 1880-1930,” paper presented at the Urban History Association Conference, Chicago, IL, October 15
“Laborers, Servants, and Schools: Aspirations of Mobility and the Reproduction of Inequality in Boston, 1880-1940,” presentation sponsored by the Immigration and Urban History Seminar, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, January 26
2015
“Worlds of Work in Late Nineteenth Century Boston,” paper presented at the Social Science History Association Conference, Baltimore, MD, November 13
2014
“The Science of Business: Training for White-Collar Work in Boston, 1868-1930,” paper presented at the Society for United States Intellectual History Conference, Indianapolis, IN, October 10
2013
“Hierarchies of Knowledge: The Changing Educational Landscape of Boston,” paper presented at the Society for United States Intellectual History Conference, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, November 2
Invited Talks and Public Lectures
2022
“Schools Won't Save Us: Education and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Facing Savage Inequalities Speaker Series, Department of Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies, Northeastern University, February 16, Virtual
2021
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Colloquium in History and Education, Teachers College, University of Columbia, October 21, Virtual
“New Directions in Urban Education History,” Urban History Month, Urban History Association, October 15, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Repairing America Series, Boston Public Library and GBH Forum, June 23, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Massachusetts History Society Book Talk, June 14, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” History of Education Society Book Club, May 25, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Pilsen Community Books Event Series, May 18, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Book Talk and Plenum, Inventing Human Capital Conference, University of California Santa Barbara, April 24, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Gutman Library Book Talk, Harvard Graduate School of Education, April 23, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” The Labor and Working Class History Association Book Talks, April 22, 2021
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” History Research Spotlight, Lake Forest College, April 19, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Labor Resource Center Book Talk, University of Massachusetts-Boston, April 13, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Comparative Historical Social Science Workshop, Northwestern University, April 9, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” US History and Culture Workshop, University of Chicago, April 5, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” History Brown Bag Lunch Series, University of Illinois-Chicago, March 17, Virtual
“The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston” Harvard Book Store Event Series, March 12, Virtual
“Why Education Can't Solve Social Inequality: Evidence from the Early Twentieth Century” University of Chicago Education Workshop, March 9, 2021, Virtual
2020
Paths to Work: Credentialing Inequality in the United States, National Academy of Education Annual Meeting, Fellows Forum, November 6
“The Politics & Historical Complexities of Latinx” Panel Discussion, Office of Intercultural Relations, Lake Forest College, October 13
The Education Trap Book Talk, Urban Space Affinity Group, History of Education Society, Virtual Meeting, August 19
2019
“Who Benefits from a Race Riot?” talk on panel The 1919 Chicago Race Riot 100 Years Later sponsored by the Lake Forest History Department, Lake Forest College, IL, October 16
2018
“No Human Being is Illegal: The Political Construction of the “Border” since 1968,” talk on panel 50 Years Since 1968: What’s Changed? sponsored by the Lake Forest History Department, Lake Forest College, IL, November 28
2018
“Urban Schools, Ethnicity, and the Mobility Ladder,” talk sponsored by the Urban History Seminar of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, IL, February 15
2017
“Documenting the People’s History of Boston,” talk sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Boston Labor Resource Center, Boston, MA, October 28
“Border Politics: America’s Love/Hate Relationship with Immigrant Labor,” paper on panel Histories of White Supremacy: Civil War Legacy, Immigration Restriction and Black Lives Matter, sponsored by the Lake Forest History Department and Office of Intercultural Relations, Lake Forest College, IL, October 11
2015
“Working Girls: Teacher Training and the Origins of UMass Boston,” talk sponsored by The Center for the Study of Humanities, Culture, and Society, UMass Boston, Boston, MA, April 22
2014
“Paths to Work: Commercial Education in New England, 1890-1940,” talk sponsored by the New Hampshire Historical Society on July 15, the Connecticut Historical Society on August 7, and the Maine Historical Society on August 27
Professional Service
Professional Organizations
2023
Committee on Sustainability and Governance, Social Science History Association
2021-2022
Co-Chair Program Committee, Social Science History Association
2019-present
Labor Network co-representative, Social Science History Association
Academic Journals
2014-2020
Editorial Board member of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Manuscript Review
University of Chicago Press, 2023
Cornell University Press, 2021
History of Education Quarterly, 2016-2023
New England Quarterly, 2022
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 2018-2020
Software Training
STATA statistical software
ArcGIS geographic information system for map making
Website & course blog design/administration
Languages
English (native)
Spanish (proficient)