IHE Welcomes New Postdoctoral Fellow Ashley Clayton ASHLEY CLAYTON joined the Institute of Higher Education in August after earning her Ph.D. in educational research and policy analysis at North Carolina State University, where she gained research and teaching experience, in addition to rigorous methodological training. She was the recipient of an Association for Institutional Research dissertation grant for her dissertation “Assisting Students in the College Choice Process: Three Essays on the Role and Effectiveness of College Advising Professionals in Public High Schools.” Additionally, she served as the editorial assistant for the Journal of Higher Education for the past two years. Her research agenda broadly focuses on postsecondary outcomes for underrepresented student populations, with an emphasis on college access and success. Specifically, her research is focused on examining postsecondary policies and systems that aid or inhibit the educational transitions of marginalized populations. Several of her publications examine college access interventions, pre-college advising, community college pathways, remedial education, and the postsecondary experiences of underrepresented minority populations. Clayton earned her M.S. in higher education administration from Florida International University and her B.S. in interior design from Virginia Tech. She has worked professionally in undergraduate admissions and TRIO Upward Bound programs. “I am honored and excited to be joining the Institute of Higher Education,” says Clayton. “I am looking forward to collaborating with faculty on research projects, teaching in the quantitative methods sequence, and serving as a resource for students.” Elisabeth Hughes Retires ELISABETH HUGHES retired last December after serving for six years as the associate director of IHE’s Executive Ed.D. program. She worked with the first three cohorts after the program was launched in January 2010. At her retirement reception, Executive Ed.D. Director Charles Knapp read a proclamation thanking Hughes for her service as the administrative liaison between the Ed.D. students and IHE faculty and for handling the logistics of delivering the program in Atlanta. Susan Sheffield Retires - But Not Quite SUSAN SHEFFIELD, who has worked at the Institute of Higher Education since 1982, retired from her fulltime position as IHE’s administrative manager in March of this year, but returned in May and continues to work on a part-time basis. Meet the New Ph.D. Students INCOMING PH.D. STUDENTS Holly Hawk, Jennifer May, Charles Sanchez, Linsey Hammond, Justin Jeffrey, Danielle Kerr, Ngozi Okafor and Hee Jung Gong come to IHE from other universities and positions in higher education administration in the U.S. and abroad. Distinguished Service Award IHE FACULTY MEMBER KAREN WEBBER was presented a distinguished service award for exceptional contributions to the activities and success of the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) at the 2016 international conference held in Vancouver in July. The award was in recognition of her “exceptional leadership as a member of the SCUP Planning Institute Concept Team.” Recipients are nominated and selected by the SCUP Board of Directors on the basis of their contributions to SCUP, length of service, and commitment to its purposes, goals and activities. Webber came to UGA in 2003 from the Office of Institutional Research & Planning at the University of Delaware. Prior to joining the IHE faculty on a full-time basis, she served as director of UGA’s Office of Institutional Research and interim associate provost for institutional effectiveness. She co-edited a book published in 2015 titled Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education: Global Contexts and Themes. The book explores the impact of globalization, changes in student demographics, new technologies, and market forces on strategic planning and the nature of institutional research and decision support in higher education. IHE Seminars and Brown Bags Explore Topical Issues IHE ALUMNUS RANDY SWING (Ph.D. 1998) spent two days at the Institute in June to meet with IHE faculty and others to discuss new institutional research analytics. Swing, who served as executive director of the Association for Institutional Research from 2007-2016, authored a 2016 Change Magazine article and Aspirational Statement for Institutional Research that posited a new student-focused vision for the field of institutional research. IHE director Libby Morris and faculty members Jim Hearn, Karen Webber, and Rob Toutkoushian (a former AIR president) planned the meeting and invited staff from the University System of Georgia’s Office of Research and Policy Analysis to join all IHE faculty in the discussion. The USG group included IHE alums Angela Bell and Jennifer Rippner, as well as current IHE student Lori Hagood. “We share the goal of wanting Georgia to be on the cutting edge of research and higher education study in the U.S.,” says Morris. “In the area of institutional research, Randy has a vision of going beyond traditional analytics and is a big player in this arena.” Such discussions and networking sessions happen at IHE throughout the year. Other seminars and brown bag sessions during the 2015-16 academic year included: Educational Policy Seminar “Private AAU University Networks as Enclaves for UniversityIndustry Innovation and Co-evolution” Presentation by McBee Professor Sheila Slaughter in May Brown Bag Seminar “Equity and Educational Attainment: Policies and Interventions in the K-16 Pipeline” Presentation by Ashley Clayton (see page 23) in February Brown Bag Seminar “Data Analysis and Visualization” Presentation by Angie Bell, University System of Georgia and David Tanner, Matt Hauer and James Byars (IHE Ph.D. student) of UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government in February Education Policy Seminar “Implementation of European Standards and Guidelines: A Croatian Accreditation Perspective” Presentation by Jasmina Havranek and Sandra Bezjak, from Croatia’s Agency for Science and Education in February (see page 9) Brown Bag Seminar “The Influence of Student Experiences on Educational Aspirations and Outcomes” Presentation by Teniell Trolian, University of Iowa, in January Education Policy Seminar “Degree Production and Cost Efficiency: An Application of Stochastic Frontier and Spatial Analysis” Presentation by Marvin Titus, associate professor of higher education at the University of Maryland, in December, 2015 International Connections IHE FACULTY MEMBER ERIK NESS participated as an external member of a doctoral dissertation defense committee for Jens Jungblut in June at the University of Oslo. Jungblut is now a post-doctoral researcher with the International Center for Higher Education Research at the University of Kassel. Ness is shown with committee members Marius Busemeyer and Berit Karseth (center), dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Oslo, who has made numerous visits to IHE, including a four-month sabbatical in 2010, when she was a guest lecturer in both Ph.D. and the Executive Ed.D. classes. Facebook Favorite WHEN IHE FACULTY AND STUDENTS GATHERED IN JANUARY in front of Meigs Hall to “call the dogs” with IHE Director Libby Morris to celebrate the founding of the University of Georgia, the resulting video became the favorite post on the IHE Facebook page this year, reaching nearly 3,000 people. Type of News/Audience: 2016 IHE Report
