Dr. Laura Engel is an Associate Professor of International Education and International Affairs at the George Washington University (GW), Director of the International Education Program, and co-chair of the GW UNESCO Chair in International Education for Development. She was recently appointed by the US Department of State and World Learning as a Fulbright Specialist (2019-2022). Prior to coming to GW, she served as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham (UK), working on two European Union funded projects on education and social policy to advance social cohesion and enhance the well-being of individuals and communities of marginalized and minoritized backgrounds.
Engel has been actively involved in interdisciplinary and international projects related to education policy. She specializes in international comparisons in education policy, including education policy uses of international large-scale assessments, and internationalization of education. She is the author of two books and over 50 articles, book chapters, and policy briefs. Her current research, funded by the American Educational Research Association and the National Geographic Society, examines student outcomes associated with the DC Public Schools Study Abroad program and issues of equity in global educational opportunities. She also is a member of the National Science Foundation funded Arctic PIRE team.
She is recipient of several teaching awards, including the 2013 GSEHD Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2017 DEL Award in Teaching Excellence, and has led a series of Fulbright Commission sponsored seminars. She is the former Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) co-Chair for the Large Scale Cross National Studies in Education Special Interest Group and serves on the editorial board of International Studies in Sociology of Education.
