Peter Bjorklund Jr., Ph.D.

I completed my Ph.D. in Education at UC San Diego in June 2021. I earned my B.A. in History from Occidental College and then taught high school social studies in the San Francisco Bay Area for seven years. During that time, I completed an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from Santa Clara University. I then left the classroom in 2014 to pursue an Ed.M. in International Educational Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. At Teachers College, my interests centered on education in emergencies, particularly education in crisis contexts in sub-Saharan Africa.

My current research centers on social networks, belonging, trust, identity, and well-being in K–16 contexts.

My dissertation was a mixed-methods study examining the formation of teacher identity from credential to classroom, focusing on the relationship between preservice and early-career teachers’ teacher identity and social networks over time.

Outside of my postdoctoral responsibilities, I am also a lecturer in the Human Developmental Sciences program, where I teach HDS 181: Experimental Projects in Human Development.

When I am not working, I spend time with my spouse, our three-year-old twins, and our boxer dog Ajax. I am also a novice vegetable gardener, a lover of books (especially novels by Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, and Jeff VanderMeer), and an avid supporter of the San Francisco Giants and Chelsea Football Club.