Stephanie Toliver

Stephanie Toliver is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in English Education and Adolescent/Secondary Literacy. Her work bridges Afrofuturism, Black feminist theory, and critical literacy to address systemic inequities in education. Affiliated with the College of Education, she focuses on speculative fiction as a tool for social critique and liberation.

• Ph.D., Language and Literacy Education, University of Georgia
• M.A., Curriculum & Instruction, Florida State University
• B.S., English Education, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Research Interests include:

• Black storytelling as a mechanism for social transformation
• Afrofuturism and speculative fiction in education
• Culturally sustaining pedagogies for Black youth
• Arts-based research methods
• Anti-racist teacher training

Her scientific awards include:

• 2024 AERA Qualitative Research SIG Outstanding Book Award
• 2023 ICQI Outstanding Qualitative Book Award
• 2021 AERA Arts-Based Educational Research SIG Dissertation Award

Public Scholarship features in the Chicago Tribune, Ms. Magazine, and Visible Magazine. She also founded Reading Black Futures, a resource for Afrofuturist literature.