Frances Vavrus

Frances Vavrus is Professor of Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota. She is also affiliated with the university's Human Rights Program; Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies; and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change. In addition, Dr. Vavrus is the Chair of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations Concerning Teaching Personnel, a United Nations body that reviews teachers' rights violations and makes recommendations on how to improve the teaching profession globally.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Vavrus has examined the legacies of colonialism and regional inequalities in education, health, and foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on Tanzania. She has served as a high school teacher and university lecturer in the Kilimanjaro Region and has been engaged in a long-term community ethnography on Mount Kilimanjaro exploring how secondary schooling affects the lives of youth. She is the author/co-author of five books and has published widely in such venues as AIDS Care, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Comparative Education Review, Harvard Educational Review, and the Journal of African American History. A Fulbright Scholar and award-winning teacher, Dr. Vavrus seeks to engage with a wide range of readers who share her commitment to scholarship for social justice.