Brittany Fox-Williams is a PhD Candidate in Sociology and Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow at Columbia University. Her research specializations include social inequality, race and ethnicity, education, and urban sociology. Brittany uses quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze inequality in young people’s relationships with authority figures in the education and justice systems. Her current work centers the contemporary experiences of Black youth.

Brittany’s dissertation, entitled “Trust Matters: Race, Relationships, and Student Achievement,” examines the role of trust in student-teacher relationships, the salience of trust for student outcomes, and racial differences in trust among youth. To study this topic, Brittany draws on longitudinal survey data from the NYC Department of Education and a yearlong interview study of two public high schools in Manhattan. Her dissertation research is supported by the National Science Foundation and MDRC.  Beyond her dissertation, Brittany authored an article on gender differences in youth responses to law enforcement, which is published in Sociological Forum. This paper won an award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Brittany completed her undergraduate studies at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, where she was class valedictorian. She also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Prior to starting her graduate studies, Brittany worked in commercial banking in New York City and Philadelphia. Brittany is a transplanted New Yorker originally from Morton, Pennsylvania.

This fall, Brittany will join the faculty at Lehman College, City University of New York as an Assistant Professor of Sociology.