Chara Bohan
Professor - Social Foundations Doctoral Program Coordinator Educational Policy Studies- Education
Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin, 1999
M.A.T., Teachers College, Columbia University, 1990
B.A. in History, Cornell University, 1988
- Specializations
She teaches graduate courses in curriculum, research, educational inquiry, education history, and social studies education.
- Biography
Chara Haeussler Bohan is a professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University. She is the unit leader and doctoral program coordinator for Social Foundations. She specializes in educational history with a focus on gender and race, curriculum and instruction, and social studies education. She has diverse teaching experiences in urban high-needs schools as well as elite private secondary schools.
She has more than 100 publications, which include book chapters and research articles in leading journals such as Action in Teacher Education, Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, Educational Foundations, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, Journal of Social Studies Research, Social Education, Social Studies and the Young Learner, Social Studies Research and Practice, Theory and Research in Social Education and Vitae Scholasticae.
Her recent research focuses on how the lost cause mythology was perpetuated in “Mint Julep” history textbooks and Confederate statues. She is co-author, with historian H. Robert Baker and Black history educator, LaGarrett King of the book, Teaching Enslavement in American History: Lesson Plans and Primary Sources (Peter Lang, 2022). She has examined issues of gender and race in social studies research and the history of Atlanta Public Schools during the desegregation era. Her chapter on gender and feminist scholarship is part of the Wiley Handbook of Social Studies Research (2017). She authored Go to the Sources: Lucy Maynard Salmon and the Teaching of History (Peter Lang, 2004), and co-edited several books, including Histories of Social Studies and Race (Palgrave, 2012). She is the recipient of two Teaching American History Grants and three grants sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Institute for Teachers, “Courting Liberty: Slavery and Equality Under the Constitution, 1770-1870.” Information can be accessed at the NEH website.
Bohan served as president of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum (AATC) in 2014-2015. She was the editor of Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue from 2017-2023. She received the Distinguished Mentor Award from AATC in 2024.
- Publications
Books
Articles and Journals
Perrotta, K. & Bohan, C. H. (2018/2017). More than a feeling: Tracing the progressive era origins of historical empathy in the social studies curriculum, 1890s-1940s. Journal of Social Studies Research. 42(1), 27–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2017.01.002
Bohan, C. H. (2017, invited). Gender and feminist scholarship: A dynamic theoretical framework living on the edges. In Manfra, M.M. & Bolick, C.M. (Eds.). Handbook of Social Studies Research. (pp. 227-253). Boston, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bohan, C. H. (2016). Presidential Address: The past, present, and future of teaching and teacher education curriculum. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 18(1 & 2), 3–12. http://www.infoagepub.com/series/Curriculum-and-Teaching-Dialogue
Bohan, C. H. & Bradshaw, L. (2014). The challenge to create a “Community of Believers”: Civil rights superintendent Alonzo Crim and Atlanta’s school desegregation compromise. Vitae Scholasticae: The Journal of Educational Biography, 31(1), 50−70. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=mse_facpub
Nix, J. & Bohan, C. H. (May/June 2013). Reaching across the color line: Margaret Mitchell and Benjamin Mays, an uncommon friendship. Social Education, 77(3), 127–131.
Woyshner, C. & Bohan, C. H. (Eds.) (2012). Histories of social studies and race, 1865–2000. Palgrave MacMillan. (231 pages) http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137007544
Bohan, C. H. & Randolph, P. (2009). The social studies curriculum in Atlanta Public Schools during the desegregation era. Theory and Research in Social Education, 37(4), 543–569. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2009.10473410#.UqpWT9GA2Uk
Bohan, C. H. (2004). Go to the sources: Lucy Maynard Salmon and the teaching of history. New York: Peter Lang. (192 pages)
Select Books and Journal Articles
Bohan, C. H., Bradshaw, L. Y., & Pecore, J. L. (2023). Confederate monuments and democratic practice in the classroom. Schools: Studies in Education, Vol. 20(2), 302-327. https://doi.org/10.1086/727139
Bohan, C. H., Baker, H. R. & King, L. (2022). Teaching enslavement in American History: Lesson plans and primary sources. New York, NY: Peter Lang. (252 pages). DOI 10.3726/b14192, https://www.peterlang.com/document/1152333
Bohan, C. H., Bradshaw, L. Y., & Morris, Jr., W. H. (2020/2019). The mint julep consensus: An analysis of late 19th century Southern and Northern textbooks and their impact on the history curriculum. Journal of Social Studies Research, 44(1), 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2019.02.002
Bohan, C. H. (2017, invited). Gender and feminist scholarship: A dynamic theoretical framework living on the edges. In Manfra, M.M. & Bolick, C.M. (Eds.). Handbook of Social Studies Research. (pp. 227-253). Boston, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Nix, J. & Bohan, C. H. (May/June 2013). Reaching across the color line: Margaret Mitchell and Benjamin Mays, an uncommon friendship. Social Education, 77(3), 127–131.
Woyshner, C. & Bohan, C. H. (Eds.) (2012). Histories of social studies and race, 1865–2000. Palgrave MacMillan. (231 pages) http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137007544
Bohan, C. H. & Randolph, P. (2009). The social studies curriculum in Atlanta Public Schools during the desegregation era. Theory and Research in Social Education, 37(4), 543–569. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2009.10473410#.UqpWT9GA2Uk
Bohan, C. H. (2004). Go to the sources: Lucy Maynard Salmon and the teaching of history. New York: Peter Lang. (192 pages)