Grace Kao

Grace Kao's picture
Professor of Sociology; Faculty Director, Education Studies; Director, Center for Empirical Research on Stratification and Inequality (CERSI)
Address: 
493 College Street, Room 407
203-432-3793
Bio: 

Grace Kao is Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of Education Studies at Yale University. Formerly, she was Professor of Sociology, Education, and Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she taught for 20 years. At Penn, she directed the Asian American Studies Program at Penn and served as Associate Chair of the Sociology Department.  She is the Co-Editor (with Hyunjoon Park) of Research in the Sociology of Education. She has served on the Boards of the Population Association of American and the Association for Asian American Studies. For the American Sociological Association, she has served as Council member for the Sections of Asia/Asian America and Education, and she has served as Chair of the Section of Children and Youth, and served on ASA’s Nominations Committee. She has also served on the Editorial Boards of the American Sociological Review, Social Science Quarterly, Social Science Research, Social Psychology Quarterly, Sociological Forum, Sociological Perspectives, and Social Problems.

She studies race, ethnicity, and immigration as they collectively relate to education and relationships among young people. She also has interests in the effects of migration on young people and has written papers on these topics in Mexico, China, and Spain. Currently, she is one of a team of researchers (led by Hyunjoon Park) that is examining the transition to adulthood among Korean Millennials. Her work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Social Science Research, Social Science Quarterly, American Education Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Child Development, Early Childcare Research Quarterly, Population Research and Policy Review, Population and Development Review, among others. Her research has been supported by NICHD, The Spencer Foundation, The Russell Sage Foundation, and the Academy of Korean Studies.

According to Google Scholar, her work has been cited over 8,000 times. With Kara Joyner and Kelly Stamper-Balistreri, she is completing a book tentatively titled Interracial Friendships and Romantic Relationships.

Courses and Seminars

Undergraduate

  • SOCY 144A. Race, Ethnicity and Immigration

Graduate

  • SOCY 663. Sociology of Education