Jose Eos Trinidad
sociologist of education policy and organizational change
Jose Eos Trinidad is Assistant Professor of Education Policy at the University of California Berkeley and is a sociologist focusing on the study of organizations outside schools and the study of schools as organizations. He received his Joint PhD in Sociology and Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago.
Integrating the sociologies of organizations and education, his research primarily interrogates the interaction between schools and "outside" research, philanthropic, and nonprofit organizations--with consequences for our understanding of public policy, school improvement, and civil society. His current research looks at these school-nonprofit interactions (1) in large urban school districts like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, (2) with quantitative datasets assembled from US nonprofit tax records, and (3) in a project looking at the creation of new civic organizations in American and British postcolonies like the Philippines and Malaysia. To understand policies and politics holistically, he is a multi-method researcher using quantitative causal inference strategies, qualitative interviews, network analysis, and comparative historical methods.
His research has been published in more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles such as in Educational Researcher, Socius, Sociological Inquiry, Race Ethnicity & Education, and Social Science & Medicine. He is also author of two research methods books, one of which won the Philippine National Book Award. His research has been supported by the National Academy of Education/ Spencer Foundation, American Sociological Association/ National Science Foundation, Asian Development Bank, RAND Corporation, and Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.
Research Strands
Aside from his primary research strand studying organizations outside schools, he also studies schools as organizations with work concentrated on:
(1) quantitative studies on education policies that have been published in Socius, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Studies in Educational Evaluation, and Social Psychology of Education;
(2) qualitative studies on policy implementation & organizational change published in Acta Sociologica, Journal of Further and Higher Education, College Teaching, and Industry and Higher Education;
(3) causal inference studies regarding youths using quasi-experimental methods published in Social Science and Medicine, Children and Youth Services Review, and Journal of Pediatrics.
Professional Background:
Eos has taught classes on research methods, education innovations, and human development. He has also served as peer reviewer in various education, sociology, and quantitative social science journals. He received his B.A. summa cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University, and his M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago, winning the Johnson Prize for his graduate thesis.
Personal Background:
Hi, I'm Eos! I was born and raised in the Philippines, the eldest of four siblings. My name (pronounced Ee-yos) means "bright" in Greek; this was my dad's pen name. A couple of interesting things about me include that I wake up at four in the morning since it's the best time for me to write, I swim every other day (it used to be every day), and I love cooking for friends. One of the reasons I'm in academia is because I love creating, building, and cultivating communities--something I hope to do with students, colleagues, and friends. My work is motivated by a desire to improve organizational effectiveness, excellence, efficiency, and equity.