Research News

AERA Open has published new research by Greg Wolniak and co-authors, Laura A. Davis, Casey E. George, and Glen R. Nelson.

In "Demystifying Tuition? A Content Analysis of the Information Quality of Public College and University Websites," the team examined how 50 public colleges and universities present financial cost information to the public on their websites.

They found detrimental variations in the clarity of language, coherence of visual displays, and fragmentation or discontinuity across pages.

A new article by Paul Rubin (PhD 2017) and Erik Ness is available online from Higher Education Policy. The research appeared in the Online First site on July 8.

"State Higher Education Governing Agencies and the Knowledge Brokering Process: Investigating Their Role as Multi-facing Organizations in the United States" considers how state agencies use and screen information in the policy process and the potential role of statewide agencies as knowledge brokers to policymakers.

The Institute will be well represented at the Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum in Denver, May 28-31. Faculty, students, and alumni will be presenting and leading discussion groups.  

Wednesday, May 29 10:15 am - Lori Hagood (PhD 2017) - The Impact of a Momentum Course Load on Long-Term Student Outcomes (Speaker Session)

11:15 am - Karen Webber & Jillian Morn - Data Visualizations: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Discussion Group)

Denisa Gándara (PhD 2016) and Erik Ness have a research article in the Journal of Higher Education, "Ideological Think Tanks and the Politics of College Affordability in the States." Gándara and Ness compiled an original data set of text produced by scrapping the web sites of conservative and progressive think tanks in five states to explore the language used surrounding of college costs. Specifically, they consider (1) How did progressive and conservative think tanks frame the issue of college affordability?

An article, "Influence without Bargaining: Unionization at the University of Wisconsin, 1930–1957," by Dr. Cain and Phil Wilkinson appears in the May 2019 issue of Labor: Studies in Working Class History. Their research explores effective efforts to enact positive change in terms of conditions and salaries for instructional workers without ever pursuing contract negotiations.

Melissa Whatley's paper, "Study Abroad Participation: An Unintended Consequence of State Merit-Aid Programs?" appears in Research in Higher Education Online First.

Whatley, a Ph.D. student who expects to graduate in May 2019, uses difference-in-differences estimation to explore the relationship between the implementation of state merit-aid programs and students’ participation in study abroad. Her article highlights several directions for future research on the relationship between state-level merit-aid programs and undergraduate participation in education abroad.

New research by Greg Wolniak and Mark E. Engberg appears in the spring 2019 issue of Review of Higher Education. Using 2012 follow-up data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS 2002), the authors provide new empirical evidence on the effects of "high-impact" college experiences on both pecuniary and non-pecuniary job outcomes

Unequal Higher Education: Wealth, Status, and Student Opportunity, a new book by IHE alumnus Barrett Taylor and former IHE postdoctoral associate Brendan Cantwell, has been published by Rutgers University Press.

In addition to the large group of IHE faculty and students who presented papers at the AERA conference in Toronto (April 5-8), Noble Jones (PhD 2018) received the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award from AERA's Division J, and Associate Professor Tim Cain was recognized as an Outstanding Reviewer for 2018 for his work with Review of Educational Research.

Friday, April 5

Saturday, April 6

A new report by Rob Toutkoushian, "Education Funding and Teacher Compensation In Indiana: Evaluation and Recommendations," shows funding for public education and teacher compensation for the state of Indiana will need significant investment to catch up regionally and nationally.

IHE faculty and students will be attending the 44th Annual AEFP Conference in Kansas City, MO on March 21-22, 2019.

Ph.D. candidate Hee Jung Gong will present a paper with Rob Toutkoushian on “The Impact of the TRIO Program on the College Choice Process.”

Rob Toutkoushian, Jennifer May-Trifiletti & Ashley Clayton (LSU)- Poster session From “First to Finish”: Does College Graduation Vary by How First-generation College Status is Defined?

Noble Jones’ (PhD, 2018) dissertation is one of two selected to receive the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award given by the American Education Research Association (AERA), Division J. One of the leading research societies, AERA - Division J, is part of a community of postsecondary education researchers who promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.

Kelly Rosinger (PhD, 2015), Andrew Belasco (PhD, 2014) & James Hearn examine the relationship between adoption of universal and targeted no-loan policies and the economic diversity at elite colleges. Their paper, “A Boost for the Middle Class: An Evaluation of No-Loan Policies and Elite Private College Enrollment,” appears in The Journal of Higher Education, 90:1, 27-55.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1484222

"From 'First in Family' to 'First to Finish': Does College Graduation Vary by How First-Generation College Status Is Defined?" is a newly-published research article by Robert K. Toutkoushian, Jennifer A. May-Trifiletti, Ashley B. Clayton (former IHE postdoctoral associate).

IHE postdoctoral associate Meredith Billings and doctoral student Melissa Whatley were selected as fellows for the 2019 NCES Data Institute: Using Federal Datasets to Support Research on Postsecondary Education. The institute provides an intensive introduction to NCES datasets and research methodologies using large-scale national data sources.

Ph.D. student Melissa Whatley is published in the graduate student research-in-progress section of the winter 2019 issue of the Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education. Her brief, "Who Studies Abroad at US Community Colleges?" attempts to identify key characteristics that make some students more like to participate in these programs.

Four doctoral students in the Institute of Higher Education received awards at a luncheon hosted by IHE on September 24th.

Gregory Wolniak receives a $350,000 grant through the Prisoner Reentry Institute (PRI).

Associate Professor Gregory Wolniak has received a $350,000 grant through the Prisoner Reentry Institute (PRI) at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to conduct a process and outcomes evaluation of its College Initiative (CI) program. CI promotes access to higher education opportunities for people who have been incarcerated and provides guidance and practical assistance for them to enroll and succeed in college. The program has enrolled more than 1,400 students since 2002.

The Association for Institutional Research is pleased to announce Dr. Karen Webber as the recipient of the 2018 Sidney Suslow Scholar Award.

The Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia will welcome two new faculty members in the fall.

Karen Webber, associate professor in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, has edited a new book from Springer Press titled Building Capacity in Institutional Research and Decision Support in Higher Education. Available as an eBook and in a hardcover print edition, the book examines the relevant roles, skills and knowledge needed to build the institutional research capacity across the higher education sector globally.

Joshua Patterson, a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Higher Education, along with two University of Georgia colleagues, is a recipient of a national research award supporting innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship based on IDEALS data.

Dominique Quarles, a Ph.D. student in the Institute of Higher Education, wrote Georgia Southern University’s successful grant proposal for the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, a U.S. Department of Education Federal TRIO Program.

With a perfect score of 110/110, he secured $1.1 million in funding over the next five years for first-generation and low-income undergraduate students at Georgia Southern University who wish to pursue a Ph.D.

Three doctoral students in the Institute of Higher Education were honored at a special awards luncheon hosted by IHE on October 6, 2017.

Melissa Whatley and Karley Riffe were the recipients of awards honoring the memories of IHE faculty members Thomas G. Dyer and J. Douglas Toma. Lori Hagood was named the 12th recipient of the Zell and Shirley Miller Fellowship, established in 2005 to honor the former Georgia governor and his wife.