Bio

Neil Shanks, Ph.D. is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Middle and Secondary Education. His areas of research interest include Social Studies Education, Teacher Education, and Economics Education. Specifically, his work focuses on the way that economics exists as a subdiscipline of Social Studies with an emphasis on aligning critical purposes for teaching economics with critical purposes for teaching Social Studies, addressing both traditional and new economic paradigms.

A 2018 Ph.D. graduate of the University of Texas, he received the 2018 Larry Metcalf Dissertation Award from the National Council for the Social Studies. His dissertation addressed the role of economics as a component of preservice teachers' purpose for teaching. His work has also explored the way that race is coded into the Texas Social Studies standards, the use of Hip-Hop as a tool to understand economics and personal finance, and ways to implement pluralist perspectives in economics classes.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Shanks was a Temporary Lecturer in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Baylor after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught a wide array of Social Studies education courses as well as courses relating to sociocultural foundations of schooling, multicultural education, qualitative research, academic writing, and mentoring preservice teachers. In his experience as a K-12 educator, Dr. Shanks taught U.S. History, Government, and Economics at Waco High School before transitioning to an Instructional Specialist position for the Pride of Waco.

In addition to his Ph.D., Dr. Shanks holds both a B.S.Ed. and M.S.Ed. from Baylor University.