Justin A. Coles, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion and associate professor in the College of Education, won two major awards at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual convention, held earlier this month in Los Angeles.

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On April 9, Coles was presented with the Early Career Award from the division of AERA representing teaching and teacher education. Writing to Coles, the awards committee celebrated his emerging leadership in national conversations around teacher education. Specifically, the committee highlighted how his “research showcases ways teacher education can uphold principles of equity and justice and provide practical lessons for the field of teacher education, disrupting a false dichotomy around research being either about equity/justice or teaching practices.”

This approach to research is reflected in Coles’ first book, “Resisting Antiblackness in Education: A Pedagogy of Black Youth Aesthetics,” which won him the Outstanding Book Award from the division of AERA representing curriculum studies on April 10. 

Published in December 2025, the book blends Black studies with critical educational theory, offering guides or “aesthetic invitations” at the end of each chapter to help education workers, activists and researchers engage with what Coles names as Black youth aesthetics—the “insurgent literacies that shape survival and self-definition, challenging systems that continuously attempt to deny Black humanity.”

“I am deeply honored to receive these two awards from AERA and to be recognized as part of a legacy of many scholars whose critical and innovative work continues to push the fields in new directions while remaining grounded in the histories of curriculum and teaching,” says Coles, who also serves as the director of arts, culture and political engagement at the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. “Both are necessary as we navigate sociopolitical contexts without losing sight of the harms and possibilities that have shaped education in the past.” 

More about Coles’ awards and his book can be found in this piece on the College of Education website.