Isabel Nunez

Director of the School of Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne

Isabel Nuñez is professor of educational studies and director of the School of Education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. In addition to earning her Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, she holds a masters degree in cultural studies and earned a J.D. from UCLA Law. Her impressively diverse experience also includes stints as a journalist and as a classroom teacher. In her role as co-editor, with Jason Goulah, of Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Context, she was instrumental in producing a volume that in 2022 won the prestigious Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. Dr. Nunez currently serves as chair of the board of advisors for the Center’s Education Fellows Program, which aims to advance research and scholarship on the internationally growing field of Ikeda/Soka studies in education. Earlier, she participated in the Center’s 2017 Soka education “summit” meeting, which assessed the current state of value-creating education. In this interview, Dr. Nuñez talked about what she learned from the Hope and Joy book project.

Photo by Donald Ohlinger