Evidence-based teaching is widely recognized as critical for student learning in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), yet whether and how faculty develop these instructional practices through their social ties remains less well understood. To illuminate these dynamics, this study applies a social capital lens to investigate the role of faculty teaching-focused social networks. Using mixed-methods social network analysis of survey data from 868 faculty and 83 in-depth interviews, we examine the connection between instructors’ personal networks and their use of evidence-based teaching approaches for fostering communication, teamwork, and self-directed learning skills. Quantitative findings suggest that the size, range, and strength of faculty teaching-focused personal networks correlate with their use of evidence-based instructional practices. Complementing these associations, our qualitative analysis details the specific relational mechanisms, objects, and instrumental and expressive returns that faculty perceive as influential. We conclude by discussing implications for institutional policies and faculty development approaches, with findings suggesting that cross-sector professional connections and strategic network cultivation are critical for advancing evidence-based teaching practices in STEMM fields.
This collaborative, dialogical study, coauthored with three incarcerated students, examines how participation in a college-in-prison program shapes identity development. Drawing on narrative identity theory, it analyzes how education supports agency, communion, and self-understanding, revealing the transformative potential of prison classrooms for policy, pedagogy, and student-serving practices. Data were generated through semi-structured dialogical sessions, reflective writing, and iterative analytic memos, emphasizing reflexivity and the co-construction of knowledge.Findings highlight three key processes (1) disruption of contaminated narratives through opportunities for reflection, achievement, and "nuclear episodes" (2); cultivation of agency and communion within classroom interactions that counter the dehumanizing structures of incarceration; and (3) negotiation with broader cultural and institutional master narratives, revealing the liberatory potential and persistent constraints of college-in-prison. These findings position programs not merely as instructional interventions but as narrative sites where students reconstruct identity and meaning. The study underscores the importance of mutuality, intellectual rigor, and recognition, offering guidance for higher education institutions, correctional agencies, and policies seeking to foster transformative learning in carceral settings.
Despite longstanding efforts to reduce inequities in higher education, gaps in access persist and, in some cases, have widened. While prior research has examined financial, demographic, and academic factors shaping access, it has paid less attention to how these resources are spatially organized. Existing work has focused largely on the proximity and location of colleges, overlooking how academic, informational, and financial resources at the secondary level are distributed across space. This study addresses that gap by examining access to higher education in Metro Atlanta using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and hot spot analysis. The analysis integrates data on college readiness, advanced course availability, counselor access, financial aid, and dual enrollment participation and capacity. Findings reveal statistically significant clusters of both high and low access across indicators and show that these dimensions do not align uniformly across space. Access is therefore structured through multiple, and at times misaligned, spatial mechanisms rather than a single geography of advantage and disadvantage. These findings suggest that reducing inequities in higher education access requires coordinated, place-based strategies that address the spatial distribution and interaction of multiple educational resources.
This paper examines how a highly regulated research funding stream to universities is influenced by representative politics. We apply Resource Dependence Theory and indirect power arguments to the US federal Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost reimbursement system. We measure a university's indirect power over its cognizant agency through state-level congressional representation and predict the F&A rate negotiated between the university and the agency. We find universities benefit from state representation on the relevant House oversight committees, but only for one of the two cognizant agencies. We suggest this agency difference is related to the coercive force on each agency. We argue indirect power can contribute to the inequality in science funding and, more broadly, to stratification in the higher education system.
Grounded in Critical Whiteness Studies, this article examines how white staff in higher education narrate race, racism, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and in doing so reproduce broader racial logics. Using qualitative thematic analysis of 1,806 open-ended responses to the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates staff survey (collected between Fall 2021 and Spring 2023), we analyze how whiteness operates not only through institutional policy but also through the everyday stories staff tell about themselves, their institutions, and the value of DEI. We identified three themes: (a) whiteness maintained through discursive evasion, (b) discomfort with equity demands as a form of whiteness protection, and (c) conditional support masking structural resistance. These findings reveal how discursive and affective practices sustain whiteness within higher education, often under the guise of neutrality or even support for equity. We conclude by discussing the implications for research, practice, and policy to prompt interventions that aim to dismantle whiteness as an institutional logic in higher education and, in turn, better meet the needs of racially minoritized communities on college and university campuses.
Restorative justice (RJ) in higher education holds promise not only as an alternative to punitive disciplinary systems, but also as a vehicle for building inclusive, relational, and socially just academic communities. Yet efforts to integrate RJ often confront significant structural and cultural barriers that can limit sustainability and impact. This study draws on qualitative data from 68 higher education institutions internationally to explore the practices and conditions that support the successful implementation and institutionalization of restorative justice in university settings. Our research examines how RJ practitioners ensure the successful delivery of restorative justice programming within higher education institutions and how restorative justice is effectively institutionalized within university settings. Using thematic analysis supported by ATLAS.ti, we identified two key themes, which we called Making it Work and Deepening the Roots, across student conduct, staff and faculty engagement, classroom practice, and research initiatives. Findings identify several successful practices for delivery of RJ initiatives, including Student Voice, Comprehensive Training, Practitioner Competency, and Restorative Embodiment. Findings also indicate important strategies for institutionalizing RJ including Scholarship, Locating RJ, Intentionality, Mission Alignment, and Strategic Partnerships. By examining how communities of practice are working to overcome implementation barriers, this study contributes to understanding how RJ can mitigate harm, strengthen belonging, and support the transformation of higher education into more relational and restorative environments.
Despite the barriers Latino men encounter in community college, they continue to enroll with vertical transfer aspirations. This qualitative study took a psychosociocultural approach to explore eight Latino men's educational narratives and transfer attitudes. Three themes emerged that advanced the understanding of their vertical transfer attitudes to four-year postsecondary institutions. These core themes were Self-beliefs: "I am in control of my academic future" - I know I can transfer for my family and myself; Relationships and connections: "We are in the grind together"; and Values and worldviews: "My educational spaces must validate me as a Latino man." The findings underscored how their self-beliefs guided their attitudes toward vertical transfer as they held the goal of supporting their families and claimed control over their academic futures. Further, their values and culture were central to their identity as Latino men and their roles within their families to navigate their vertical transfer process.
Postsecondary policymaking has entered an era of entrenched partisanship. Yet scholars have rarely sought to explain partisan differences in postsecondary policy support. This paper proposes that differences in information consumption among lawmakers are associated with and help explain political differences in support for higher education policies. Extending research on policy knowledge use, we challenge C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures" framework by showing that policymakers draw on multiple, competing sources of authority-often outside traditional expert channels. Drawing on a national survey of state legislators, we use exploratory structural equation modeling to predict lawmaker support for policies related to campus carry, undocumented students, campus sexual assault, and political viewpoint diversity. We find that lawmakers differ in their reliance on sources of information related to legislative expertise, technical expertise, and religious authority. Moreover, the results suggest that the polarization of higher education policy among lawmakers reflects partisan differences in the kinds of information they consume.
This sequential exploratory mixed methods study explores how mental health experiences shape career development among students at a Midwestern community college. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with 27 students with mental health challenges, followed by analysis of survey data from 1,607 students to examine differences between those with and without mental health conditions. Integrating qualitative and quantitative findings, three themes emerged. First, mental health challenges served as a motivator for career choices centering empathy, community, and service, reflected in students' mental health journeys and significantly higher self-reported critical self-reflection and social awareness compared with peers without mental health conditions. Second, meaningful learning experiences affirmed career paths yet left holistic needs unmet, evidenced by students' accounts of affirming coursework alongside significantly lower holistic academic support. Third, students continuously negotiated career fulfillment and mental health sustainability, reflected in expressed tensions between ambition and well-being and significantly lower career self-efficacy and community and civic engagement. Our findings reframe mental health experiences not solely as a barrier but as a meaningful asset shaping career purpose and decision-making. We call for a reimagined campus environment where academic guidance, career development, and mental health are intentionally integrated to support students' holistic well-being and sustainable success.
Mathematics often evokes negative experiences for students, with many apprehensions deterring them from pursuing STEM fields in college. A crucial assessment for prospective STEM majors is the math placement exam, which determines their initial college math course. However, with misplacement rates ranging from 25% to 33%, support is increasing for the incorporation of noncognitive measures, based on Situated-Expectancy-Value-Cost Theory (SEVT) and self-efficacy theories, alongside traditional skill assessments to improve placement accuracy. This study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the relationship between math placement performance and math self-beliefs (expectancy, value, cost, and self-efficacy), as well as factors such as high school math preparation, STEM interest, first-generation status, and gender. Sample data from two cohorts of incoming students (2022 and 2023) at a four-year liberal arts institution in southeastern Pennsylvania were analyzed. SEM was used to compare two proposed models followed by a moderation analysis of first-generation status for the 2022 cohort then validated with the 2023 cohort. Results showed that math self-efficacy and high school preparation were strong predictive measures of performance on a math placement exam, with STEM interest also playing a significant, though lesser, role. No moderation effect was observed for first-generation status.
What would happen if higher education institutions (HEIs) supported minoritized students' labor to ensure institutional diversity? As HEIs diversify, students of color (SOCs) have been tasked with nurturing this "diverse" experience, which can tax their progress. The impacts of this cultural taxation on faculty of color are well-studied, but the impacts-particularly for a diverse cross-section of SOCs-and steps that HEIs can take to rectify this taxation remain unclear. Leveraging 14 focus groups, our comparative analysis examines the experiences of undergraduate and graduate SOCs with varying degrees of involvement in diversity labor across two institutional types. The following questions guide our study: (1) what changes do SOCs want HEIs to make to reduce cultural taxation; (2) what differences exist in these desired changes; and (3) what are the roots of those differences? We find that decentralization of HEI resources, low faculty diversity, and institutional performativity are common concerns. We also find that differences in HEI resources, students' engagement in diversity labor, and students' experiences with diversity explain differences in SOCs' desired changes. Our study, which amplifies not only common changes but also diversity of perspectives in this non-monolithic student group, has tangible implications for HEI leaders seeking to create inclusive campuses.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the barriers that first-generation, low-income (FLI) students faced completing college and tested universities' ability to provide adequate supports. Drawing on a year of intensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted at two Equity Engines - universities that are both accessible to and effective at serving FLI students - during the 2019-2020 year, I examine how Mission U (small, private) and West State (large, public) attempted to prioritize their FLI students in a context of rising need and exacerbated financial pressures. While both universities harnessed their understanding of and commitment to FLI students to develop similar local supports, their ability to sustain their prioritization of FLI students diverged by sector and business model. By linking campus-level actions to field-level pressures, I demonstrate that FLI students and the institutions that serve them are better protected when higher education is positioned as a matter of public interest (funded by citizens through taxation) than one of private benefit (funded by consumers who pay tuition).
Affinity groups and counterspaces at predominantly white institutions provide cultural affirmation and support for Black undergraduates' academic and psychosocial outcomes. Substantial evidence suggests that academic persistence for Black women within these contexts is often linked to religion and spirituality (R/S). To date, no study has explored Black undergraduate women's perceptions of R/S resources at selective liberal arts colleges (SLACs). The ethnically and religiously diverse sample consisted of 21 women of African descent (12 seniors, 9 juniors; 57% Christian) attending 16 institutions in the United States. Using semi-structured interview data, thematic analyses yielded five themes: religious campus climate, institutional resources, increasing religious inclusivity, commitment to religious awareness, and supportive relationships. Black women exhorted institutions to facilitate R/S inclusivity, campus-wide awareness and tolerance, and culturally affirming religious counterspaces. Each narrative elucidated actionable changes for institutions to support Black women's R/S thriving and underscored targeted recommendations for developing collectively sustainable and beneficial R/S climates.
Drawing on two 90-min interviews and multiple follow-up conversations with 16 Black student leaders, this study couples Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Methodology to examine their stories of race and racism, illustrating how they are policed through institutional racism. Findings describe the oppressive structures that Black student leaders work in, including how they experience overt acts of racism from peers, advisors, and administrators, leading them to self-police themselves. Additionally, findings account for the inequitable systems in higher education when their expectations as Black student leaders being policed through labor and work, exploited and expected to work in inequitable systems in higher education, where their labor was uncompensated and rewarded. Finally, participants, especially Black women, documented how they were physically policed by being asked to appease traditional white norms and standards of appearance under the guise of professionalism. As a survival mechanism, they frequently had to comply with these ideologies if they wanted to ascend to leadership within their student organizations, causing them to rethink how they showed up in these white spaces. We provide explicit recommendations for practices and policies that address policing injustices in higher education and combat the inequitable racialized labor they experience.
Decades after Brown V. Board of Education, Black undergraduates remain at the margins of campus life at historically white institutions (HWIs). While higher education research has consistently documented de facto segregation, few studies, if any, have interrogated the role of antiblackness - the paradigmatic position of blackness as slave - in reproducing racial division in modernity. This intrinsic case study centers the lived experiences of 8 Black undergraduates to examine Black/white relations at a Midwestern HWI. More specifically, I employ the Afterlife of School Segregation as an analytical lens to elaborate how equal participation in mainstream campus life is foreclosed to Black students, reifying the structural antagonism between blackness and humanity. The findings are articulated through the following themes: (1) blackness as abjection, (2) blackness as isolate, and (3) blackness as refugee. This study offers meaningful implications for select higher education stakeholders invested in supporting Black students in the Afterlife of School Segregation.
The 2023 Israel-Palestine war has sparked racialized political shock against Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities globally. This has become especially pronounced on U.S. college campuses, where MENA students are experiencing a surge in anti-MENA, xenophobic, and Islamophobic discrimination. The present study employed qualitative methods to examine the impact of racialized political shock on MENA students' sense of belonging in U.S. four-year universities. Informed by MusCrit, this study utilized counter-storytelling to amplify the experiences of MENA students. The findings reveal that MENA students have faced heightened discrimination, a lack of protection from university administration, and the absence of support programs, which have hindered their sense of belonging on campus. These findings present significant implications for policy, practice, and research in higher education.
While the federal work-study program is one of the longest-standing forms of federal financial aid for higher education, it remains understudied due to limited data availability and policy details, particularly because the program is administered at the institutional level. Students also self-select into the program, and a major challenge in prior research has been identifying an exogenous source of variation in participation. This study addresses these gaps by leveraging administrative records for 26,871 students, including demographics, financial aid, academic records, and on-campus employment and payroll data, along with information on financial aid packaging. Using the expected family contribution cutoff for federal work-study eligibility, I employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate program effects on first-year GPA, second-year retention, and average weekly work hours and earnings from on-campus employment. Findings indicate that students offered federal work-study differ demographically from those who decline their offers. Differences in on-campus employment patterns (e.g., job type, hours, and earnings) are substantial between students with and without federal work-study offers. Although program participants exhibit the most intensive work patterns (more jobs and longer hours) among on-campus employees, participation shows no negative effects on academic outcomes. No heterogeneous program effects are observed across student subgroups.
This study contextualizes undergraduate research (UR) by comparing students' perceived learning from UR and discipline-specific courses (Courses) using a within-subject, paired-sample design and construct-based measures: Academic Learning Gains (AG), Practical Learning Gains (PG), and a new Comprehensive Learning Outcomes (CO) construct. Survey responses were collected from 294 students who presented at a university-wide UR Symposium. Students rated matched items for UR and Courses side-by-side, enabling direct comparison while controlling for individual differences. Across all constructs, UR received higher mean ratings than Courses, and paired-samples tests indicated statistically significant differences with medium to large effect sizes. These results provide a context-specific benchmark for interpreting UR's perceived contribution relative to disciplinary coursework among students who participate in research. Findings are descriptive and reflect self-reports from students who self-selected into UR at a single institution. The study is not designed to establish causality or to generalize beyond similar HIP-quality UR contexts. Even so, the study provides a replicable framework for UR-Course comparisons and introduces the CO construct to capture integrative growth. Future research is needed to validate these patterns across diverse settings, incorporate direct indicators of learning, and employ designs that yield more generalizable samples.
Hostile campus climates contribute to racial violence and stress in U.S. higher education and evoke racial battle fatigue (RBF) among Black students. This study investigates the relationships between perceptions of general, academic, and racial campus climates and RBF among Black undergraduate students. Participants included 368 Black undergraduate students who attended one predominantly white university and completed an online survey. Data were analyzed using four hierarchical multiple regression models to determine if Black undergraduates' perceptions of general, academic, and racial campus climates predicted physiological RBF (model 1), psychological RBF (model 2), physio-behavioral RBF (model 3), and psycho-behavioral RBF (model 4), respectively. Findings indicated more positive perceptions of general campus climate significantly predicted lower levels of psychological and psycho-behavioral RBF. More positive perceptions of academic campus climate significantly predicted lower levels of physiological, psychological, physio-behavioral, and psycho-behavioral RBF. Finally, more positive perceptions of racial campus climate significantly predicted lower levels of physiological and psychological RBF. Implications focus on improving general, academic, and racial campus climates to subsequently reduce RBF among Black students.
