Shannon Wanless is director of the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR), which conducts interdisciplinary research to improve communities and address social, economic, and health policy issues.
Wanless began her career as a YMCA summer camp director and Head Start teacher. She worked in urban and rural settings, and with children whose families showed incredible resilience in the face of the never-ending challenges of being refugees or being undocumented in the U.S.
Wanless was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. She earned a PhD in human development and family sciences at Oregon State University, a master’s degree in early childhood education at the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology/anthropology and psychology at Denison University in Ohio.
