Biography

Steven Nelson is an associate professor and chair of UNLV’s Department of Educational Psychology and Higher Education. His background in both law and education informs his research and teaching interests, which lay at the intersection of racism and the education system. His wide gamut of specialties include the politics of education, education law, critical race theory, and voting rights.

Prior to joining UNLV, Nelson taught and led in charter, public, and private schools in the New Orleans area. He also served as the first-ever education advocate at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s School-to-Prison Pipeline Project. Nelson additionally worked on charter school law and policy, special education access and equity, and juvenile justice issues.

His published research has explored the “school-to-prison” pipeline, educational racism in the United States, along with passive and active racism. His scholarly works and teaching have particularly examined how education reform laws, policies, and political dynamics advance, impede, or regress efforts at achieving educational equity for Black students in urban settings.

Nelson is currently a member of the American Educational Research Association, and associate editor of the Journal of Research on Leadership Education. He also holds appointments on the editorial boards of research journals such as Urban Education and Educational Researcher.