Research News

In January 2020, Greg Wolniak received a research grant from the Horatio Alger Association to conduct a follow-up study of the career and educational outcomes among students from adverse backgrounds. 

As a long-standing PI for the Association, in 2017 Wolniak launched the association’s first ever longitudinal study of the developmental trajectories of Horatio Alger Scholars, designed to follow the entering cohort of freshmen scholars through critical points in their college experience. 

Dr. Leslie Gordon was invited by Reinhardt University's Center for Innovative Teaching and Engaged Learning to make a presentation on ePortfolios to approximately 80 faculty on January 16.  

She also met with faculty currently piloting an ePortfolio platform to offer additional guidance on preparing faculty and students for implementation of ePortfolios across the institution. 

Wolniak was named a 2020 Research Fellow for the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). The fellowship includes access to a large alumni survey database containing postcollege information on undergraduate arts majors. Using the database, Greg Wolniak and research partner, Amy Whitaker, will examine issues of diversity and equity in the arts, and the extent to which (and for whom) undergraduate arts education serves as a pathway to graduate education in fields like law and business.

IHE postdoctoral associate Maurice Shirley was named a fellow in the 2020 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.

Shirley said, "I am excited about the prospect of meeting likeminded scholars, who are also dedicated to enhancing education. It's a unique opportunity to further develop a scholarly research agenda that has a positive impact on US higher education."

An article by a team of IHE faculty, students, and an alumnus appears in Educational Policy OnlineFirst. Lindsey Hammond, Philip Adams, Paul G. Rubin (PhD 2017), and Erik C. Ness use rhetorical analysis to examine how 11 influential intermediaries package their college completion policy messages.

The article, entitled “A Rhetorical Analysis of Intermediary Organization Documents on College Completion Policy,” is an extension of a five-state comparative case study into the roles that intermediary organizations play in fostering research utilization among policymakers.

A research paper by George C. Spencer, Jr. appears in The Review of Higher Education. In "Promoting the Attainment-to-Transfer Pathway: Effects of Transfer Associate Degree Policies Across States," Spencer examines associate degree transfer policies to better understand the policy effects on students earning associate degrees. 

Greg Wolniak joined colleagues at the University of Iowa and Montana State University to examine the various residual benefits of the college experience. The team's findings and paper, "The Post-Collegiate Influence of Undergraduate Experiences: Intellectual, Civic, and Psychological Outcomes," was featured in an article in the Daily Iowan on December 9.

The Institute was well represented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education annual conference in Portland, November 13-16. Faculty, students, former post-docs, and alumni presented and led discussion groups.

The Journal of Higher Education published a new paper by Sondra N. Barringer (former IHE postdoc), Barrett J. Taylor (PhD 2012) & Sheila Slaughter. Their research tracks the influence and status of trustees at higher education institutions since the 1970s.

George Spencer and Janine de Novais study the impact of Ethnic Studies courses on two distinct types of racial attitudes: structural racism perceptions and cross-racial empathy. Their article, "Learning Race to Unlearn Racism: The Effects of Ethnic Studies Course-Taking" appears in the most recent issue of The Journal of Higher Education.

Rob Toutkoushian co-authored “Time May Change Me: Examining How Aspirations for College Evolve during High School.” The article appears in the fall 2019 issue of The Review of Higher Education.

Using data from a statewide survey of high school students in Indiana, the researchers introduce a conceptual model to explain how student aspirations may change over time, utilize panel methods to examine the extent to which this happens during high school, and investigate which factors are associated with such changes.

Amy Stich delivered a keynote address at the British Sociological Association’s International Bourdieu Study Group Conference on Friday, September 27 at Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England.

Karen Webber joins Sherri Newcomb and Lindsay Wayt in presenting the keynote panel session, entitled Data-Informed Decisions in Higher Education, at the NACUBO Planning & Budgeting Forum on Monday, September 16 in Pittsburgh. 

Rachel Burns (PhD 2018) & Karen Webber are published in the Journal of Student Financial Aid (vol. 48, issue 3).

While the overall story is that education-related debt is on the rise, Webber and Burns seek to add greater detail to the trend by comparing disciplinary groups. They used NPSAS 2012 data to examine graduate student debt for STEM versus non-STEM students who were enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program in 2012.

Justin Jeffery (IHE PhD student), Dominique Quarles (PhD 2019), and Sayamon Singto (Division of Academic Enhancement) have received a grant to explore “the connection between acculturation and educational attainment in first and second generation immigrant students at UGA.” The investigators hope to use the findings to inform UGA’s campus support strategies and programs. In addition to promoting academic success, the team will consider how students develop their cultural identities while in another country.

IHE is well-represented in a grant-funded research project, Enhancing Students’ Financial and Educational Success through a Virtual Reality Experience. The principal investigators, Greg Wolniak (IHE), Grace Ahn (Department of Advertising and Public Relations), Stan Jackson (IHE PhD student), and Anthony Jones (PhD, 2019) will evaluate if scenarios experienced in virtual reality (VR) settings can change student behavior and alter financial and educational decision-making.

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.

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