Stephanie Renee Toliver

Stephanie Renee Toliver is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois, specializing in English Education and Adolescent/Secondary Literacy. Her research focuses on Black storytelling, Afrofuturism, and arts-based pedagogies to address systemic inequities in education. She authored the award-winning book Recovering Black Storytelling in Qualitative Research: Endarkened Storywork, and her work appears in journals like Teachers College Record and Journal of Literacy Research. Toliver has received multiple accolades, including the Steve Cahir Early Career Award and the AERA Qualitative Research SIG Award. Her scholarship emphasizes speculative fiction as a tool for social justice and culturally sustaining pedagogies for Black youth.

Key research areas include: Black storytelling as social critique, speculative fiction for youth empowerment, and critical literacy pedagogies for pre-service teachers. Her recent work explores intersections of AI, digital literacy, and historical trauma. Toliver advocates for radical imagination in education to challenge anti-Blackness and promote equitable learning environments.

• Education: Ph.D. in Education.
• Grants & Collaborations: Active in interdisciplinary research networks, focusing on qualitative methods and Black feminist epistemologies.
• Labs/Teams: Engages with communities through arts-based research initiatives and public scholarship in media like Chicago Tribune and Ms. Magazine.