Anika Lanser

Anika Lanser is a Ph.D. Student and Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow in the Sociology Department at Columbia University. Her research interests include education and special education, social movements, labor, and organizations. She is generally interested in how teachers and administrators navigate their institutional roles, especially in their capacity as disciplinarians, and how teachers effectively push for change within their schools and districts. Another line of her research is interested in using participatory mapping to illustrate how students’ identities structure their spatial experiences of their schools. Before Columbia, Anika received her Bachelor’s in Sociology with a minor in History from Vassar College. After college, Anika taught fifth and sixth grade special education while pursuing her Master’s in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education. She then completed a Master’s in Sociology at Columbia University before working as a Research Assistant at the Center for Social Development and Education.