Quentin Jenkins — Sociology, Brown University

About

Portrait of Quentin Jenkins, smiling, wearing a light shirt and navy bow tie.

Quentin Jenkins is a Sociology PhD student at Brown University and a doctoral affiliate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. His research focuses on educational inequality, teacher discretion, and how American public schools are navigating the arrival of artificial intelligence. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, his work examines how teachers make sense of new technologies and how the organizational contexts they work within shape what is possible in the classroom.

Hailing from the South Side of Chicago, Quentin’s broader research interests include the sociology of education, (anti)Blackness in education, race and organizations, educational inequality, and technology and society.

Quentin holds a B.A. from Pitzer College. Prior to starting at Brown, he worked as a Research Associate at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Research

MA thesis · in progress

Teacher Sensemaking and Organizational Context in the Age of AI

Drawing on in-depth interviews with public school teachers across urban, suburban, and rural districts, this project examines how teachers describe making sense of and responding to generative AI in the absence of formal policy. Teachers’ accounts point to three patterns: organizational enablement, organizational constraint, and precarious discretion. These accounts suggest that the “policy vacuum” around AI does not distribute freedom equally, but tracks existing lines of resource and support.

Teaching

I am building toward instructor-of-record experience. My teaching interests include the sociology of education, race and ethnicity, organizations, and technology and society.

Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning · Teaching Consultant · 2026–27

Teaching Consultant, Brown University

Selected to serve as a Teaching Consultant with Brown’s Sheridan Center, supporting fellow graduate instructors through classroom observation, structured feedback, and consultation on teaching practice.

Brown University · Teaching Assistant · Fall 2026

SOC 1315: Macro-Organizational Theory: Organizations in Social Context

An upper-level course on organizations and their social and economic environments, exploring how organizational boundaries are defined, how environments shape strategy and performance, and how sets of organizations interact, compete, and cooperate at the macro level.

Brown University · Teaching Assistant · Spring 2026

SOC 1950: Senior Capstone Seminar

Supported seniors through the full arc of an original research project, including grading and giving feedback on literature reviews, building course materials such as poster and capstone guides, and facilitating a panel presentation session for the Senior Symposium.

Brown University · Teaching Assistant · Fall 2025

SOC 1116: Criminal Courts and the Law in an Era of Mass Incarceration

A comprehensive introduction to America’s criminal court system, examining courts as organizations, as arrangements of professionals, and as institutions experienced by victims, witnesses, defendants, and jurors. Held office hours, graded student work, and guided students in conducting archival research using letters written by formerly incarcerated people.