About

Domingo Morel is an Associate Professor at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service with a joint appointment in NYU's Wilf Family Department of Politics. His research focuses on racial and ethnic politics, urban politics, education politics, and public policy. He is the author of 'Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy' (2018), which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award, and co-editor of 'Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City' (2018). His recently published book, 'Developing Scholars: Race, Politics, and the Pursuit of Higher Education' (2023), examines the history and politics of college access programs created for students of color in the 1960s, challenging conventional wisdom about protest and policy creation, and offering a perspective on affirmative action policy that has received less scholarly attention. In addition to his academic scholarship, Dr. Morel has extensive applied experience in education, political affairs, and public policy. Prior to earning his Ph.D., he worked in higher education for special programs aimed at providing college access and support services to students from underserved populations. He is also a co-founder of the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University and has served as past president of the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Brown University in 2014.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Public administration
• Psychology
• Political economy
• Economic geography
• Gender studies
• Socioeconomics
• Law
• Economic growth
• Demography
• Pedagogy
• Development economics
• Geography
• Economics

Selected publications

• Political Science and Education Policy Research:

  2025-07-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Community Cultural Wealth in Stakeholder Perceptions of the Return to Local Control of Schools

  Urban Education · 2025-01-23

  articleSenior author

  In the 1980s and 1990s, state governments began to take over local school districts in cities across the United States. After decades of local resistance to state control, communities are beginning to make strides in their efforts to regain local control. This paper examines local- and state-level stakeholders’ perceptions of the return to local control in Newark, New Jersey in 2018. Using an integrated critical race theory framework, we find conflicting reasons for returning local control, which we call practical and liberatory reasons and that the cultural wealth of local stakeholders propels the liberatory reasons for local control.

  PublisherDOI

• Response to R. Shep Melnick’s Review of <i>Developing Scholars: Race, Politics, and the Pursuit of Higher Education</i>

  Perspectives on Politics · 2024-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Crucible of Desegregation: The Uncertain Search for Educational Equality. By R. Shep Melnick. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023. 336p. $105.00 cloth, $35.00 paper.

  Perspectives on Politics · 2024-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Education and urban politics

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2024-07-16

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• <i>The politics of trash: How governments used corruption to clean cities, 1890-1929</i> , by Patricia Strach and Kathleen S. Sullivan

  Journal of Urban Affairs · 2023-08-17

  article1st authorCorresponding

  "The politics of trash: How governments used corruption to clean cities, 1890-1929, by Patricia Strach and Kathleen S. Sullivan." Journal of Urban Affairs, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2

  PublisherDOI

• The state takeover of Houston public schools is about more than school improvement

  2023-03-17

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Notes

  2023-02-22

  other1st authorCorresponding

  Subject Politics US Politics Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

  PublisherDOI

• Tables

  2023-02-22

  other1st authorCorresponding

  Subject Politics US Politics Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

  PublisherDOI

• Copyright Page

  2023-02-22

  other1st authorCorresponding

  Extract Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Akira Drake Rodriguez

  University of Pennsylvania

  2 shared

• Kelly B. Smith

  Stetson University

  1 shared

• Susan L. Moffitt

  1 shared

• Michaela Krug O’Neill

  1 shared

• Mara Sidney

  1 shared

• Yalidy Matos

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  1 shared

• Marion Orr

  1 shared

• Sally Nuamah

  Northwestern University

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award