Over 20 years teaching, consulting, and working toward racial understanding and empowered, equitable communities.

Dr. Joseph Flynn is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Northern Illinois University. He is also a past-president of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum. His teaching and scholarship focus on the intersection of curriculum studies, multicultural and social justice education, race and Whiteness Studies, and media and popular culture. 

As part of his professional development work with regional K-12 schools and higher education institutions, Dr. Flynn founded the three-day Social Justice Summer Camp for Educators at Northern Illinois University , now going into its eight year. The Camp brings educators to the Northern Illinois University campus for three days of lectures, workshops, films, and other activities designed to give “campers” a place to explore challenging issues in education. 

Dr. Flynn can be heard as an editorialist on Perspectives, a radio program on WNIJ, an NPR affiliate, and he has appeared on many news programs to talk about justice issues and challenges of race in the United States. Additionally, Dr. Flynn  serves as a member of the board of directors for The Privilege Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to examining and dismantling systems of racial privilege. 

Finally, Dr. Flynn published White Fatigue: Rethinking Resistance for Social Justice (Peter Lang, 2018). White fatigue is the idea that there are millions of White Americans who believe racism is wrong but struggle with understanding how racism works because of a focus on individual behaviors without recognizing larger systemic and institutional challenge some face more than others. The book has been awarded the O.L. Davis, Jr. Outstanding Book Award from the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum. 

In his free time Joseph enjoys watching and discussing great movies, television, and music, cooking, spending time with family, college football (go Spartans!), and a vigorous game of FIFA.

For more information about Dr. Flynn see his Northern Illinois University page, including his curriculum vitae.