About Us

Professor Shaun R. Harper founded the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education in 2011 at the University of Pennsylvania, which was its home for six years. The Center was relocated and renamed the USC Race and Equity Center when Dr. Harper joined the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and Marshall School of Business faculties in 2017.

Founded in 1999 by USC Professor Estela Mara Bensimon, the Center for Urban Education (CUE) has worked to bring equity-mindedness to institutions of higher education through socially-conscious research, tools, and learning institutes. CUE empowers practitioners to act as agents of change, enabling them to be critically race conscious as they respond to changing demographics in our educational systems. Furthermore, CUE developed the framework for equity-minded practice and policy that has been adopted by foundations, professional associations, and institutions of higher education nationally. CUE has helped hundreds of practitioners and institutions become equity-minded by teaching them to effectively question their own assumptions, recognize racial stereotypes that harm student success, and continually reassess their practices to create change. CUE and the USC Race and Equity Center merged on July 1, 2020.

The USC Race and Equity Center’s strength largely resides in our interdisciplinary network of faculty affiliates. We unite more than 100 professors across academic schools at USC who are experts on race and racism, people of color, immigration, and other important dimensions of equity. These scholars work together on research, as well as on the development of useful tools and resources.