Doctoral Student William B. Walker, Jr. (Will, he/him) is a doctoral student at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education. He joined the Institute as a recipient of the Presidential Graduate Fellowship, the University of Georgia’s most prestigious honor for incoming doctoral students. Before his role at the Institute, Will served as a part-time student grant writer within the Indiana University Bloomington Office of Enrollment Management, where he was chiefly responsible for drafting and co-managing multiple grants related to efforts to increase student engagement and retention. Will was directly involved in procuring and managing approximately $420,000 of external grant funds. As a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, Will has committed significantly to becoming a well-rounded higher education scholar through topical courses in Higher Education Administration and Governance, College Access and Student Success, Higher Education Finance, and History of Higher Education in the U.S. In addition to these courses, Will’s engagement in sociology-based courses, including Social Theory and Political Sociology, has provided him with a robust appreciation for critical, transdisciplinary research that aims to produce praxis-forward solutions that positively transform social practices and structures that are deeply embedded within the economic, historical, political, and sociological foundations of higher education institutions. With the outcome being the social transformation of higher education institutions, Will primarily utilizes critical qualitative approaches in a transdisciplinary manner that combines insights from sociology, political science, and history. In particular, the main strand of Will’s research agenda considers how power and politics influence students’ active and agentic participation in academic decision-making. Beyond this research, Will also researches student/staff labor issues, STEM Education, and organizational change. As a scholar, Will’s contributions to the practice and study of higher education have been acknowledged and celebrated within popular media outlets such as Esquire, Inside Higher Education, Forbes.com, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. In addition to popular media outlets, Will has shared anecdotal commentary and empirical scholarship at national conferences hosted by SXSW (South by Southwest), the Society of Social and Personality Psychology (SPSP), the National Association of College Admissions Officers (NACAC), and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). His research contributions are also expected to appear soon (with collaborators) in well-respected journals such as the Review of Higher Education, the Journal of College Student Development, and the Behavioral Sciences. Will is a native resident of Winnfield, LA, the birthplace of three of Louisiana’s former governors. He holds an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Indiana University and a B.A. in Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond. He is a proud alumnus of the LEDA Scholars Program. Interested persons may learn more about Will by visiting his website: https://www.willwalkerjr.com.
