Cailean Shelley

Cailean Shelley (Kay-Lin shell-ēē) is a sociologist at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis (EPSA), currently finishing the last year of his Ed.M. program in Sociology and Education. His research centers on socialization and epistemologies within educational inequities at the intersections of race/ethnicity and class. Cailean has taught a variety of social science courses at NYU, across both undergraduate and graduate levels, in sociology, education, leadership, business diversity, and gender equity. Additionally, he has held higher education administration roles, including DEI management and research. They have also engaged in local activism, directing student-oriented queer liberation groups, participating in civil rights campaigns with the ACLU, conducting research on international human rights measurements for the United Nations, and canvassing in local, state, and national elections. Cailean earned both their bachelor's degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology from the University of Georgia and his first master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from New York University, focusing on race/ethnicity, critical theory, sociology, and education. Originally from Atlanta, Cailean has been a devout Brooklynite for four years and enjoys thrifting, visiting museums, and people-watching in their free time.