Claire Anne Tratnyek

Hi, I’m Claire.

I am a history PhD candidate at Northeastern University studying:

Urban, cultural, and education history in the modern United States, with a focus on the Boston area
Demographic shifts in the Boston Public Schools and their neighborhoods from the 1960s through the 2010s
The implications of resegregated learning environments for students and their families in 21st century Boston

I moonlight in the Education Department at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as the Lead Research Associate on a multi-year impact study. We are working to evaluate the museum’s Thinking Through Art program with Boston Public School teachers and students, focusing on culturally responsive instruction, critical thinking, and social emotional learning skills.

CV

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Education
Expected 2024	Ph.D., History, Northeastern University
2010	M.A., Teaching, Northeastern University
2009	M.A., History, Northeastern University
2007	B.A., Anthropology and European History, Franklin Pierce College
2006	Study Abroad, Magdalen College, Oxford University

Teaching Experience
2022	Visual Thinking Strategies Coach, MIT Sloan School of Management
2021 – 2022	Assistant Director, Northeastern University Digital Integration Teaching Initiative
2019 – 2021	Teaching Assistant, Northeastern University History Department Courses: History of the United States, Modern Japan, Public History/Public Memory
2015 – 2019	Teacher, Patrick J. Kennedy School, Boston Public Schools
2014 – 2015	Teacher, Paul A. Dever School, Boston Public Schools
2010 – 2014	Teacher, East Boston Central Catholic School, Archdiocese of Boston
2010 – 2014	Private Tutor
2004 – 2007	Writing Tutor, Franklin Pierce College
2006 – 2007	Teaching Assistant, Franklin Pierce College Behavioral Sciences Department

REsearch & Public History Experience
2021 – 2022	Lead Research Associate, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Education Department
2020	Doctoral Fellowship, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Education Department
2020	Doctoral Fellowship, WGBH Education Department
2020	Co-Curator, COVID-19 Digital Archive: Cultural Heritage Collection
2020	Curriculum Writer: Teaching Modules for the COVID-19 Digital Archive (funded by New England Humanities Consortium)
2017 – 2020	Thinking Through Art Program, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
2006 – 2007	Dialogue Moderator, New England Center for Civic Life
2006	Research and Exhibits Presentation Internship, Peterborough Historical Society

Awards & Honors
2020 – 2021	College of Social Sciences & Humanities Summer Fellowship, Northeastern University
2019 – 2021	College of Social Sciences & Humanities SGA, Northeastern University
2007 – 2009	Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Tuition Assistantship Award, Northeastern University
2007	Salutatorian, Franklin Pierce College
2007	Outstanding Senior of the Year, Anthropology Department, Franklin Pierce College
2006	Stella S. Fogelman Scholarship, Clio Award, History Department, Franklin Pierce College
2003 – 2007	President’s Scholarship, Honors Program, Dean’s Honors List, Franklin Pierce College

Professional Affiliations
2019 – 2022	American Alliance of Museums
2019 – 2022	American Historical Association
2019 – 2022	National Council on Public History
2014 – 2019	National Science Teachers Association
2006 – 2007	Lambda Alpha National Collegiate Honors Society for Anthropology
2005 – 2009	Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society
2005 – 2007	Alpha Chi National Honors Society

Current Research

Whose School Is It Anyway? Continuity and Change in Boston Public Schools, 1874-2020

I am working towards a certificate in Digital Humanities as part of my coursework as a History PhD student at Northeastern University, and this project will serve as the centerpiece of my DH work. I am interested in two particular facets of the history of Boston Public Schools (BPS): the changing demographics within and among schools (particularly from the 1970s, after court-ordered desegregation began in the district, to the present), and the ethnographic disconnect between school communities and the names of the schools that commemorate (mostly male, mostly white) figures from Boston’s past.

In my research, I am taking a long look back at the schoolhouses built by the city of Boston, and trying to find out why and by whom the buildings were dedicated and named the way they were. I am also looking at years of demographic data reported to the state of Massachusetts by BPS and mapping demographic shifts over time. I am working on both of these ‘buckets’ of research simultaneously, because I ultimately want to tell a broad story about how BPS has developed into the district it is today – and show how past events continue to shape our systems and the students who are part of them.

Past Projects

PAST PROJECT: Assistant Curator for Journal of the Plague Year – a Digital Archive of COVID-19

In summer 2020, I worked as part of an archival team at the COVID-19 Archive Project Journal of the Plague Year. Our team was working to build a collection that explores museums and cultural heritage sites around the United States and their responses to COVID-19. Starting in the greater Boston area, we collected and curated oral histories from museum personnel, images from the museums’ websites and social media, and examples of museum outreach during the COVID closures for the archive. I also developed a modular curriculum for teaching college undergraduates how to engage with digital archives using JOTPY.

PAST PROJECT: GBH Boston Education Department Doctoral Fellow

In summer 2020, I worked at GBH Boston as the Education Department Doctoral Fellow. Most of my work focused on a project called PBS Learning Media: Assessing the Present, Envisioning the Future. I worked with the educators and curriculum designers in leading teacher focus groups, writing reports on feedback from teachers on how distance learning is impacting their practice, assessing the impact of the PBS Learning Media (PBSLM) platforms and curricula, and evaluating the current PBSLM US History curricula.

ONGOING: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Education Department Doctoral Fellow/Research Associate

Since summer 2020, I have been fortunate enough to work with the Education Department at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on the Thinking Through Art (TTA) program for Boston Public School teachers – a program I participated in for two years when I was teaching in BPS. Starting in 2020, I worked with this team as a coach and mentor to new TTA teachers, and in Fall 2020 conducted a thorough examination of the TTA curriculum, using data analysis techniques to identify strengths and gaps. In early 2021, I began working as a research associate on a multi-year TTA Impact Study for the Gardner Museum under Mary Ellen Munley of MEM & Associates consulting group.