Rockenbach Links Educational Experiences with Interpersonal Relations

On April 16, Alyssa Rockenbach, Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University, presented an informal session on her interdisciplinary research, "Interfaith Learning & Development in the First Year of College: Lessons Learned from the Interfaith Diversity Experiences & Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS)."

Josh Patterson has worked with Dr. Rockenbach on the IDEALS project, which explores how educational experiences affect college students’ capacity to engage and cooperate with people of diverse worldviews. She is the co-PI of the five-year study.

Dr. Rockenbach has authored or co-authored more than 80 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters, reports and monographs, and other scholarly works, and she has delivered more than 100 refereed and invited presentations at national conferences and other professional gatherings.

Her work has been featured in media outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The Conversation. Dr. Rockenbach is co-author of the 2016 book, How College Affects Students: 21st Century Evidence that Higher Education Works, a synthesis of over 1,800 research studies of college impact conducted from 2002 to 2013, and she co-edited the 2012 volume, Spirituality in College Students’ Lives: Translating Research Into Practice. She was named an Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University.