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Research News

Monday, October 9, 2023

Former students returned for the announcement of the endowment to support the James C. Hearn Lectureship during the Institute's annual awards and recognition luncheon.

The foundational gift was made in honor of the interim director’s commitment to excellence in research by his partner, Dean of the College of Public Health Marsha Davis.

Friday, October 6, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

McBee professor Timothy Cain was recently mentioned in The Chronicle article “A Messy Divorce: The Dissolution of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Poses a Novel Risk to Tenure” (Sept. 12, 2023) by Lee Gardner. In the article, Cain expresses his caution about changes to university tenure and the voice of faculty in these decisions.

Thursday, October 5, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Research by Michael Tidwell, first-year PhD student, and Ellis S. Logan recently appeared in their article, "Differences in support within the social science graduate admissions pipeline," published in Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Professor Timothy R. Cain considers the role of labor unions in higher education in a book chapter published in the Research Handbook on the Transformation of Higher Education (Edward Elgar, 2023). Grounded in the concept of union voice, Cain argues that academic unions can both promote positive change in higher education organizations and can challenge the widespread attacks on workers’ rights and higher education more broadly.

Monday, August 7, 2023

Krystal L. Williams, assistant professor at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award of over $600,000 to examine undergraduate academic and career-related outcomes among Black women pursuing computing degrees.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

by Suzanne R. Graham

Timothy R. Cain and Gregory C. Wolniak achieved rank of full professor, effective August 1, 2023.

Professor Cain started at the University of Georgia in 2013. His research interests are in campus activism, unionization, and academic freedom. He leads courses in the history of U.S. higher education and the American professoriate. In 2017-18, he was a UGA Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellow, and he continues to incorporate historical research into his courses.

Thursday, June 8, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Associate professor, Amy Stich, and McBee Institute graduate Andrew Crain joined forces to publish new research on social class and students’ college-going and future aspirations. The article, “Structuring middle-class aspirations: the role of place-based habitus and higher education,” appears in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

Monday, June 5, 2023

AIR Forum, May 29-June 2, 2023

View conference program

Several current students and graduates joined Professor Karen Webber, AIR President, at the recent AIR Forum in Cleveland, Ohio. Members of the McBee Institute community presented or presided over more than 15 sessions during the four-day conference.

Tuesday, May 30

12:00-12:45

Thursday, June 1, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) recently released the book, Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education edited by Jennifer A. Delaney.

Two McBee faculty members, James C. Hearn and Erik Ness, collaborated with two alumni, Denisa Gándara and Paul Rubin, to write a chapter in this new book, titled “Political Volatility in State Commitment to College Completion Efforts.” This project was a product of the William T. Grant Foundation grant.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Research by three McBee Institute PhD graduates and a former postdoctoral associate is published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. The article, titled "'One of the Weakest Budget Players in the State': State Funding of Higher Education at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic" is a qualitative study of higher education appropriation decisions in two states.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Krystal L. Williams, assistant professor at the McBee Institute, co-published an article in the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering with Leonard D. Taylor, associate professor at Auburn University.

Monday, May 15, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Ijaz Ahmad, current doctoral student, has a received short-term research grant from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) for $3,000.

This grant will help fund Ahmad's research related to Pakistan's higher education, titled "Seeing Beyond Control: Assessing the Impact of the 18th Amendment on Pakistan's Higher Education."

Ahmad strives to explores how the quality and relevance of higher education in different provinces of Pakistan are affected by the constitutional amendment that reshaped the Pakistani governance.

Friday, April 14, 2023

The American Educational Research Association’s Queer Studies Special Interest Group recognized the scholarship of Professor Timothy R. Cain and coauthor Michael S. Hevel (associate dean for research, strategy, and outreach at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions) with the SIS’s 2023 article of the year award.

Thursday, March 23, 2023

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 Among Four-Year College Entrants.”

Stich and Spencer sought to gain more insight into the strategies and effects behind lateral transfer decisions among students  across socioeconomic groups. They believe the study “provides evidence of the role of college transfer in exacerbating class inequalities in higher education.”

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

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

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Ben Cecil (PhD 2022) and Justin Jeffery (PhD 2021) co-authored an article recently published in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies. The paper, "International Student Engagement: Closing Gaps and Internationalizing Student Affairs," was released in the December 2022 issue.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

by Jewel Caruso

Kate Collier (doctoral student), Sondra Barringer (former post doc), and Karley Riffe (alumnus) appear in The International Journal of Higher Education Research. The paper, "University presidents as agents of connection: an exploratory study of elite presidential ties in the United States, 2005-2020," explores how university presidents form relations between their institutions and external organizations. Using data from elite universities from 2005 to 2020, their results show growth in these connections over time.

Friday, December 16, 2022

by Jewel Caruso

In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Journal, emeritus professor, Karen Webber, and associate professor, Amy Stich, published their article, "The importance of career competencies in work related experiential activities for engineering and computer science majors." McBee doctoral students Matthew Grandstaff and Collin Case contributed to the research and writing for the paper.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Krystal L. Williams, assistant professor at the McBee Institute, was presented with the Excellence in Public Policy in Higher Education Award this past week at the ASHE Conference.

This award recognizes an individual who shows excellence in their research in academic scholarship and policy practice that helps advance the public policy discourse in higher education.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Mid-conference and McBee Institute folks are still going strong in Las Vegas! Check out these Friday programs.

9:15-10:00

Pearson Brown: First Year Momentum and Retention Outcomes for the University System of Georgia Jihye Lee: The Effects of Tuition Discounting on Student Composition at Public Higher Education Institutions

10:15-11:30

Renni Turpin: Reflections on Faculty, Staff, and Administrator Use of Data

12:45-2:00

Thursday, November 17, 2022

So many programs offered by members of the McBee Institute community today at ASHE!

10-11:15-

Paul Rubin (PhD 2017): Understanding State Higher Education Policy Culture: Examining Distinct Characteristics Underlying Postsecondary Sector Changes in Utah Erin Leach and Sean Baser: A Study of Shirking: A Principal-Agent Analysis of the Adoption of Georgia BOR Policy 4.1.6 Sondra Barringer (Postdoc, 2013-2016): Critical Perspective for Organizational Analysis

12:30-1:45-

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

ASHE 2022 is kicking off, and the McBee Institute community is presenting on many important topics. Check your programs!

8:00-9:15

Erik Ness, Sean Baser & Matt Dean: State Authorization of Postsecondary Education: An Inventory of Centralization and Stringency Alex Cassell (MEd 2019), Sean Baser, Erin Leach: State of Tenure: Examining State-Level Policy Changes to Faculty Tenure in Georgia and Wisconsin

8:15-9:30

Monday, November 14, 2022

by Jewel Caruso

Jillian Morn, a doctoral candidate, recently gave two presentations for the Assessment Institute. 

Her first presentation was co-presented with Jackie Belanger of UW covering how to build a compelling case with data, "Data Storytelling in Assessment: A Practical Guide to Narrative Centered Research Design, Visualizations, and Reporting."

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Professor Erik Ness, PhD candidate Sean Baser, and PhD student Matt Dean compiled a landmark survey of higher education authorization practices across the United States. The authors describe the purpose of the report, sponsored by the State Higher Education Officers Association and Arnold Ventures, as "offer[ing] a deeper understanding of the state authorization landscape and process."

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