Liv Solveig Thorstensson Davila

Liv Solveig Thorstensson Davila is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and multiple research centers, including the Center for Global Studies, Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity, and the European Union Center. Her work bridges educational policy, multilingual literacy, and social inclusion.

• Ph.D. in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• MA in Comparative Education from the University of Minnesota
• BA in Anthropology and French from Grinnell College

Her research focuses on multilingualism, language and literacy intersections with race, ethnicity, gender, and social class, and qualitative methods in applied linguistics. She explores how immigrant and refugee learners navigate educational systems, emphasizing sensory/embodied learning and equity in language access.

Dávila’s recent publications highlight immigrant and refugee communities’ educational experiences, including affective learning in trilingual classrooms, crisis-driven language access during the pandemic, and home-school collaboration. Her work spans ethnographic and discourse analyses, often centering marginalized voices.

• Co-Director of Graduate Studies at the Education Policy, Organization and Leadership