K. Wayne Yang is a Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies in Social Science at the University of California, San Diego, where he also serves as Provost of John Muir College. He holds a B.A. in Physics from Harvard University, an M.A. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, with a dissertation titled Discourses of reform and agency: The construction of an urban school reform movement. Before entering academia, he co-founded the Avenues Project, a youth development non-profit organization, and East Oakland Community High School, where he facilitated community action-research involving youth, families, schools, grassroots organizations, non-profits, school district administration, and labor unions. Appointed Provost of John Muir College in 2018, he has held leadership roles including Acting Faculty Director for the Environmental Studies Program and co-chair of the Academic Senate workgroup that created the Jane Teranes Climate Change Education Requirement.

Yang's research interests encompass decolonization, everyday epic organizing, urban education, critical pedagogy, coloniality in urban ghettos, popular culture and social movements, and the relationships of Indigenous, Black, and people-of-color communities to Indigenous land, particularly in urban areas. He collaborates extensively with Indigenous scholar Eve Tuck, co-editing the Routledge book series Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education. Key publications include the co-authored article "Decolonization is Not a Metaphor" (2012), edited volumes such as Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education: Mapping the Long View (2018) with Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Eve Tuck, Youth Resistance Research and Theories of Change (2014) with Eve Tuck, and the book A Third University is Possible (2017) as la paperson. His works have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Yang co-founded the Indigenous Futures Institute, which applies Indigenous knowledge to science, technology, and environmental issues, and Black Like Water, focusing on Black relationships to land and water. An accomplished educator, he received the UC San Diego Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award.

Professional Email: kwayne@ucsd.edu