George D. Dalbo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Education & Youth Studies
- Pronouns: He / Him / His
- Email: dalbogd@beloit.edu
- Office: Room 217, Morse-Ingersoll Hall
Description / Biography
At Beloit College, I teach a mix of foundational, advanced topics, and methodology courses in Education and Youth Studies. I also supervise students in their practica and student teaching placements. As a former middle and secondary teacher, I believe in providing Beloit students with a strong foundation in education, especially theories of teaching and learning, so they are prepared to work with diverse classrooms of students. In my teaching, I try to model self-reflection, student-led inquiry, culturally responsive and sustaining praxes, and critical and anti-colonial pedagogies.
I completed my Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction - Social Studies Education with a graduate minor in Human Rights at the University of Minnesota. Before coming to Beloit College, for nearly 20 years, I taught middle and high school social studies in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have taught every grade from 5th to 12th in public, charter, and private schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities. I am also licensed to teach Reading and English Language Arts (and soon to be licensed in secondary science and math). I began my career teaching English as a Foreign language in Vienna, Austria as part of a joint research and teaching Fulbright grant.
My research grows out of my teaching experience and is broadly focused on teaching and learning about genocide in K-12 curricula and classrooms. I am particularly interested in the possibilities and limitations for genocide education to serve both for and as reparative justice in settler colonial nation-states, such as the United States or Canada. My first book, Unsettling Narratives: Teaching About Genocide in a Settler Space (2025; Ethics Press), explores a semester-long high school genocide studies course in a rural school right here in Rock County. Alongside a group of American, Canadian, German, and Namibian colleagues, I am currently working on a research project to record Ovaherero and Nama survivor-descendant testimonies and create genocide education curricula for high schools in North America, Europe, and Southern Africa.
In addition to my teaching and research, I enjoy long-distance unsupported bicycle touring; Appalachian folkways, especially storytelling (I grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Northern Appalachia), reading poetry, and exploring Beloit with my dog.
- Safe Zone Trained (and facilitator)
- Trained in Beloit College’s Restorative Justice Practices
- Ph.D. Curriculum & Instruction and Human Rights, University of Minnesota
- M.Ed. Social Studies Education and Educational Technology, The College of St. Scholastica
- Fulbright Research & Teaching Grant (MA coursework in History), University of Vienna
- B.A. History and German Language and Literature, University of Buffalo
Additional coursework at: Viterbo University, University of Rwanda, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Costa Rica, St. Catherine University, Inver Hills Community College, and Jamestown Community College
- EDYS 102 Historical and Philosophical Perspectives in Education and Youth Studies
- EDYS 164 Socio-Cultural Perspectives in Education and Youth Studies
- EDYS 266 Social Studies Instruction across the Curriculum’
- EDYS 276 Critical Dis/Ability Studies
- EDYS 276 Navigating Difficult Knowledge
- EDYS 303/304 Student Teaching
- SOCI 100 Introduction to Sociology
- SOCI 290 Multicultural Education and the American Dream
- SOCI 290 Settler Colonialism
- SOCI 290 Sociology of Collective Memory
- SOCI 290 Sociology of Education
- SOCI 290 Sociology of Mass Violence
Secondary education; teacher education; social studies education; genocide education; human rights education; settler colonialism studies
- Dalbo, G. D. (2025). Unsettling narratives: Teaching about genocide in a settler space. Ethics Press.
- Resenly, I. A., & Dalbo, G. D. (2025). What If We Trusted Teachers? New Guidelines for Holocaust and Genocide Education. The Social Studies, 1-11.
- Dalbo et al. (2024). A Most difficult story: Armenian heritage and community narratives in the classroom. Great Lakes Social Studies Journal.
- Baer, A., Dalbo, G., LaBranche, J. (2023). Navigating the paradox of repair: Indigenous genocide and public education in Minnesota and Manitoba. Futures..
- Dalbo, G. D. (2022). Memorializing the Holocaust: Public art, collective memory, and upstander education. In M. Polger & S. John (eds.) The Holocaust: remembrance, respect, and resilience. Penn State, Press Book.
- Dalbo, G. D. (2020). The Holocaust as metaphor: Holocaust and anti-bullying education in the United States. In M. Gloe & A. Ballis Holocaust education revisited: Wahrnehmung, vermittlung und rezeption. Berlin: Springer.
- Dalbo, G. D. (2018). Unsettling narratives: Teaching about the genocide of Indigenous peoples in North America. In Totten, S. (ed.) Teaching genocide: insights and advice from secondary teachers and professors (Vol. 2). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Dalbo, G. D. (2018). “Why don’t we talk about rape?” Teaching about sexual violence in genocide. In Totten, S. (ed.) Teaching genocide: insights and advice from secondary teachers and professors (Vol. 1). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
- From the classroom to the community (Sep 29, 2025)
- Commemorating the Herero and Nama Genocide (Oct 3, 2025)