Professor
Department of Teaching & Learning

Yonghee Suh

757-683-6697

3109 EDUCATION BUILDING
NORFOLK, 23529

Yonghee Suh is a professor of social studies education whose scholarship bridges history teaching, teacher learning, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her research advances understanding of how educators engage with difficult histories—particularly the history of school desegregation—within professional development (PD) contexts. Drawing on historical inquiry, the social theory of learning, and the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity, she examines how teachers design, refine, and transform their instructional practice through sustained, collaborative learning experiences.
Her recent publications—Planning to Teach a "Difficult History through Historical Inquiry" (2021, Journal of Social Studies Research), "Opportunities for Teacher Learning to Teach Difficult Histories" (2024, Teacher Development), and "Teachers’ Learning to Teach Difficult Histories: Navigating Identity across Varying Contexts" (2025, Professional Development in Education)—offer empirically grounded insights into teachers’ historical framing, problem-solving processes, and the interplay between social identity and pedagogical decision-making. Supported by federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program, her work illuminates how teacher role identity, collaboration, and critical engagement with primary sources shape classroom practice.

Originally from Seoul, Korea, Suh brings her experience as a former middle school social studies teacher to her current role. She enjoys collaborating with teachers, community partners, archivists, and historians across various professional development settings. She is a certified yoga teacher and loves to swim.

Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy, Michigan State University, (2006)

M.S. in Social Studies Education, Seoul National University, (1998)

B.S. in History Education, Seoul National University, (1994)

Certification for teaching secondary social studies (Grade 7-12)
Sponsoring Organization: South Korean department of Education, Seoul National University
Date Obtained: 1994-02-01

Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Research

Suh, Y. "The Analysis of Teacher Learning through Cultural Historical Activity Theory: Individual and Social Dimensions of Teacher Learning to Teach Difficult Histories. " $5,000. Old Dominion University. 2021 - 2023
Suh, Y. "Stories Untold: School Desegregation in the Context of U.S. History" $20,000. Federal. May 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022
Suh, Y. "Investigating Teacher Knowledge Growth in the Community of Practice: Teaching Difficult History through Primary Sources" $2,000. Federal. 2020 - 2022
Suh, Y. "The long road from Brown: School desegregation in Virginia" $204,729. Federal. October 1, 2019 - December 31, 2022
Suh, Y. "M.E.C.A. (Multicultural Education in the Content Areas). Improving preservice teachers’ disciplinary writing through multicultural education" $20,000. Old Dominion University. 2018 - 2019
Suh, Y. "The Local and the Global: School Desegregation in the Context of U.S History" $20,000. Federal. 2017 - 2018
Suh, Y. "The Long Road From Brown: School Desegregation In Virginia" $175,813. Federal. 2016 - 2017
Suh, Y. "Teaching Hidden History" $5,000. 2015 - 2016
Namkoong, G., Marsillac, S. and Suh, Y. "Collaborative Research: Developing a Student Learning Strategy to Bridge Virtual Learning and Hands-on Activity in Organic Solar Energy Education" $150,000. Federal. 2013 - 2016
Suh, Y. "The Long Road from Brown: School Desegregation in Virginia" $176,200. Federal. 2014 - 2015
Suh, Y. "Building Literacy in Social Studies: Improving Teacher Quality Grant" $71,566. State. 2013 - 2014
Suh, Y. "Project 6: A Program-based Portfolio and Professional Development Project to Improve Pre-service Teachers’ Writing Performance" $20,000. Old Dominion University. - 2013

Expertise

History-Social Studies Education
Teacher Education and Professional Development
Qualitative Research Methods

Research Interests

Teacher learning
Interdisciplinary collaboration across subject matters
Teaching history

Articles

Suh Inside out: Being insider and outsider on teaching and researching Black history in the teacher professional development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education .
Suh, Y. (2025). Opportunities for teacher learning to teach difficult histories: A perspective of social theory of learning. Teacher Development 29 (1) , pp. 150-166.
Suh, Y., Garner, J. K. and Daugherity, B. (2025). Teachers’ learning to teach difficult histories: Navigating role identity across varying contexts. Professional Development in Education 29 (1) , pp. 1-19.
Suh, Y., Daugherity, B. J.., Maddamsetti, J. and Branyon, A. (2020). Experiences of African American teachers in desegregated PK-12 schools: A systematic literature review. Schools: Studies in Education 17 (2) , pp. 271-293.
Suh, Y. and Hinton, K. (2020). Navigating disciplinary boundaries: Two stories of collaborative teaching in English and social studies. Action in Teacher Education.
Suh, Y., Daugherity, B. and Hartsfield, D. (2020). Planning to teach difficult history through historical inquiry: The case of school desegregation. The Journal of Social Studies Research.
Hinton, K. and Suh, Y. (2019). Foregrounding collaboration in disciplinary literacy: Implications from JAAL, 2008-2017. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 63 (3) , pp. 279-287 .
Suh, Y. and Daugherity, B. (2018). Oral history as inquiry: Using digital oral history collections to teach school desegregation. The History Teacher 51 (4) , pp. 697-709.

Presentations

Suh, Y. and Grant, L. (April , 2013). Learning ways of seeing the past: Analysis of the use of images as historical evidence and student performance in the NAEP U.S. history assessment Paper AERA San Francisco, CA.
Suh, Y. and An, S. (April , 2013). “Strangers from a different shore”: Collective memory of Asian American experiences represented in U.S. history textbooks. Paper AERA San Francisco, CA.
Butler, B. M., Suh, Y. and Scott, W. (November , 2012). Knowledge transmission versus social transformation: A critical analysis of big ideas in elementary social studies methods textbooks Paper College and University Faculty Assembly Seattle, WA.
Suh, Y. and An, S. (November , 2012). Model minority or perpetual foreigner? Images of Asian Americans portrayed in U.S. History textbooks Paper CUFA associated with NCSS Seattle, WA.
Suh, Y. and Yurita, M. (November , 2012). World War II revisited: Students’ perceptions on historical significance in Japan and South Korea Paper CUFA associated with NCSS Seattle, WA.
  • 2018: Dean's Recognition Award, Darden College of Education and Professional Studies
  • 2018: Most Collaborative Grant Award, Darden College of Education and Professional Studies
  • 2005: Travel Grant, National Council for Social Studies
  • 2005: Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Michigan State University
  • 1998: University Recruit Fellowship, Michigan State University
  • 1998: Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award , Seoul National University
  • 1990: University Recruit Fellowship , Seoul National University

Organizational Chart