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Amy Stich

Blurred image of the arch used as background for stylistic purposes.
Associate Professor of Higher Education

As a sociologist of education and qualitative researcher, Amy Stich is interested in issues of inequality of educational access, opportunity, and outcome relative to social class and race. Her independent research, supported by a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, examines the structure and social consequences of postsecondary tracking. 

Stich has published widely in academic journals including Sociology of EducationBritish Journal of Sociology of EducationAmerican Educational Research JournalUrban Education, and Review of Educational Research. She is the author of Access to Inequality: Reconsidering Class, Knowledge, and Capital in Higher Education  (Lexington Books) and the co-editor of The Working Classes and Higher Education: Inequality of Access, Opportunity, and Outcome (Routledge). Stich serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education and the Editorial Review Board of The Journal of Higher Education.

Stich received her PhD from the University at Buffalo where she was also a postdoctoral research associate on a longitudinal ethnographic study of student transitions from high school to college, supported by the National Science Foundation. Prior to joining the Institute of Higher Education, Stich was an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations at Northern Illinois University.

Curriculum Vitae:
Email:
astich@uga.edu
Education:
  • Ph.D., University at Buffalo
Research Interests:

Dr. Stich's primary interests of scholarly inquiry are in sociology of education, qualitative methodologies, sociology of higher education, and social theory.

Grants:

Stich, A. E., Research Fellow. Reducing Inequities in Postsecondary Debt Repayment through a Multi-Sector Research-Practice Partnership. William T. Grant Foundation, (Co-Sponsors: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Spencer Foundation), $650,000 (UGA Sub-award, $72,410).

Webber, K.L. PI, & Stich, A.E., co-PI. The Effect of Geographic Locale on Access to Work-Related Experiential Activities. National Science Foundation, $690,027.

 

Stich, A. E. (2020). Beneath the White Noise of Postsecondary Sorting: A Case Study of the “Low” Track in Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education.

Whatley, M. & Stich, A. E. (2020). From exclusive to inclusive: A mixed-methods investigation of study abroad participation and practices. The Journal of Higher Education.

Cipollone, K., Stich, A. E. & Weis, L. (2020). STEM for All: Student Identities and The Paradox of STEM Democratization. Teachers College Record, 122(2), 1-67.

Stich, A.E. (2018). Stratification with honors: A case study of the “high” track in higher education. Special Issue of Social Sciences (Guest Editors: Simon Marginson and Vikki Bolivar), 7(10), 1-17.

Stich, A.E. & Freie, C. (Eds.). (2016). The working classes and higher education: inequality of access, opportunity, and outcome. New York: Routledge.

Stich, A. (2012, 2014). Access to inequality: reconsidering class, knowledge, and capital in higher education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Cipollone, K. & Stich, A.E. (2017). Shadow capital: the democratization of college preparatory education. Sociology of Education, 90(4), 333-354.

Stich, A.E. & Cipollone, K. (2017). In and through the urban educational ‘reform churn’: The illustrative power of qualitative longitudinal research. Urban Education.

Stich, A.E. & Reeves, T.D. (2016). Massive open online courses and underrepresented students’ access to higher education in the United States. The Internet and Higher Education, 32, 58-71.

Weis, L., Eisenhart, M., Cipollone, K, Stich, A., Nikischer, A., Hanson, J., Ohle, S., & Dominguez, R. (2015). In the guise of STEM education reform: opportunity structures and outcomes in inclusive STEM-focused high schools. American Educational Research Journal, 52(6),1024-1059.

Stich, A.E., & Colyar, J.E. (2013). Thinking relationally about studying ‘up.’ British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(5), 729-746.

Courses Regularly Taught:
Of note:
  • 2016 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Events featuring Amy Stich
Zoom (advance registration required)

Join the UGA Qualitative Research Program for the UGA QUAL Lab Speaker Series

In Defense of Democratic Qualitative Research Teams in the Neoliberal Academy

Monday, October 31st from noon – 1 p.m. EST

Zoom link registration: https://bit.ly/UGAQL01

News Featuring Amy Stich

Professor Amy Stich, Professor George Spencer (NYU), Brionna Johnson (MEd 2022), and Sean Baser (doctoral candidate) joined forces to identify obstacles to higher education policy implementation.

by Jewel Caruso

Amy Stich, associate professor, and George Spencer, assistant professor, recently published an article in Research in Higher Education titled “College Choice Revisited: Socioeconomic Differences in College Transfer Destinations…

by Jewel Caruso

A research paper co-authored by Amy Stich and Melissa Whatley in 2020 recently appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

by Jewel Caruso

A large number of MIHE students, faculty, alumni, and former postdoctoral associates are participating in the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century. The…

Amy Stich is a fellow on a new research-practice partnership grant team to explore financial burdens of college and how to improve. The 2022 Institutional Challenge Grant was awarded to Georgia State University’s Georgia Policy Labs (GPL) and Achieve Atlanta.…

In their book Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities, Laura T. Hamilton and Kelly Nielsen analyze the impacts of defunding public institutions on racially marginalized students and “new universities” —competitive research…

by Larissa Lozano

Dr. Amy Stich interviews Dr. Kathy Roulston on the skills needed to effectively conduct qualitative interviews and current developments in the field.

Brook Thompson and Brionna Johnson led an information session about the Georgia College Advising Corps to members of the McBee Institute community.

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