Katerina Bodovski , Ph.D.

Dr. Katerina Bodovski is Professor of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from The Pennsylvania State University in 2007.  She obtained both an M.A. in Sociology and a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Bodovski’s research interests include sociology of education and childhood, stratification and inequality, parental practices, and comparative and international education. Broadly defined, her research focuses on gaining an understanding of the factors shaping various student outcomes, related to family practices, neighborhood characteristics and school settings. More recently, Dr. Bodovski has expanded her research to include post-socialist countries of Eastern and Central Europe, as well as cross-national examination of characteristics of the educational systems. Her first book, Across Three Continents: Reflections on Immigration, Education, and Personal Survival (2015, Peter Lang Publishing) is a combination of autobiographical narrative and sociological analysis and discusses the author’s firsthand experiences in Soviet Russia, Israel, and the United States. Her second book, Childhood and Education in the United States and Russia: Sociological and Comparative Perspectives (2019, Emerald Group Publishing), dives deeper into understanding of the social texture of the two countries and the ways they shape childhood experiences.