Faculty Spotlight - Dr. Chi Nguyen

Dr. Chi Nguyen

Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies and Practice

Dr. Nguyen’s research is international, comparative, and interdisciplinary in nature. Using a social justice and equity lens, she explores systematic inequity issues facing students, leaders, and communities during critical transitional periods (e.g., in the aftermath of a policy change, advancing from K-12 to higher education, relocating to a different country). Drawing from both her cross-national research and personal experiences as an immigrant, she argues that transitional periods often magnify and perpetuate systematic inequities, as individuals with privileged knowledge, power, and resources can navigate changes much better than those without privileges. However, these liminal times and spaces also offer windows of opportunity for personal and professional growth—if students, leaders, and community members receive adequate guidance and support. This specific area of research has been significantly understudied in the field of education, particularly in non-Western contexts——a gap she has actively worked to address through both her academic and public scholarship.

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Who do you draw inspiration from and why?

This may sound strange, but I have always drawn inspiration for both my scientific research and creative work from my past self. I often think deeply or journal extensively about my childhood, my K-12 and college experiences in Vietnam, my graduate education in the United States, and my ongoing journey as a professor of education. What did I learn along the way? Who helped me through the most challenging periods of my life? How can I show up more and pay it forward to youth and emergent scholars who are in similar situations to the one I was in? I think about these questions constantly, and they have inspired everything that I do. 

For example, reflecting on how a sudden shift in education policy significantly narrowed my access to higher education in Vietnam, I conducted an award-winning mixed-methods dissertation exploring Vietnamese students’ college expectations and choices, as well as how school leaders navigate policy changes amid rural-urban disparities in educational equity and access. My experiences as an international student turned immigrant in the U.S. have also inspired many of my publications on international students and immigrant youth. In addition, because of my burning desire to share with the world the knowledge and wisdom I wish I had heard when I was younger, I use many public-facing platforms—such as YouTube, podcast, blog, and social media—to disseminate my research under my pen name “The Present Writer,” which now reaches 1.5 million followers across platforms. 

What are one or two accomplishments of which you are most proud?

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I’m proud that my current scholarship reflects who I am as an interdisciplinary Vietnamese-American scholar. Earlier in my career as a graduate student, I felt tremendous pressure to stay in a single lane, as I was told to “publish only U.S.-based studies,” “use only well-known Western theories,” and “stop mixing methods and disciplines.” While I understand the importance of having a focused research agenda, restricting myself and my work to a single check box is not who I am. Today, I am continuing to push boundaries by publishing international research using a variety of methods and interdisciplinary theoretical lenses rooted in both Western and non-Western traditions. 

I am also proud that, since 2023, I have brought my planner—The Present Day planner—to the international market. The planner is a product of applied scientific research that I developed and tested over 5 years. Starting simply as a sketch on scrap paper, this planner helped me stay focused and balanced during some of the most turbulent times in my life (e.g., academic and financial struggles, childbirth, postpartum depression, the global pandemic). Seeing the planner in print and then in use by over 20,000 people across the world gave me a strong sense of purpose, knowing that my research has made a positive impact beyond academia. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I would say to my younger self: Live fully, learn deeply, be present. Growing up in a hyper-competitive educational environment, I was trained to learn and do as many things as quickly as possible. While this approach brought some temporary successes, it also led to stress, burnout, and depression. Nowadays, I remind myself to embrace the learning process, do fewer things with greater attention, and enjoy small and beautiful things in life.