Lydia Gandy-Fastovich

Lydia Gandy-Fastovich (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah. Her research interests are anchored in a commitment to educational equity and include understanding varying stakeholders' (parents, teachers, principals, district staff) conceptualizations and actions towards equity for dis/ability, racial, and gender justice. Additionally, she interrogates the organizational and structural systems that envelop teachers and leaders, with the goal of creating working conditions that allow adults and children to thrive.

Along with Drs. Laura Rogers and David Woo, Dr. Gandy-Fastovich is currently working on a project investigating internal school district principal pipelines. This work will help build the growing literature on principal pipelines and provide details on how districts are implementing these programs and the impact it has on employment trends. Dr. Gandy-Fastovich’s research on investigating parent participation in special education has earned an Outstanding Dissertation Award (2023) from the Special and Inclusive Educational Research Special Interest Group at the American Educational Research Association. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Previously, she worked as a substitute teacher and worked in Human Resources for a local school district in Wisconsin.