PhD, 2018 Karley Riffe is an assistant professor of Higher Education at the University of Cincinnati. Riffe researches changes to the academic profession in the United States and specifically the the implications of academic appointment type at public, comprehensive institutions. While pursuing her degree, Riffe contributed to three externally-funded projects with IHE faculty members. After her May 2018 graduation, she accepted a faculty position at Auburn University. She was the recipient of the J. Douglas Toma Excellence in Scholarship and Service Award in 2017 for her academic achievements and institutional engagement, and she was also selected to be a graduate student representative for Division J (Postsecondary Education) of AERA. “IHE has given me opportunity after opportunity to develop both as a researcher and as a member of the scholarly community,” she says. “My decision to pursue my doctorate here is consistently reaffirmed by my interactions with IHE students, staff, and faculty, and I look forward to building on what I’ve learned here after graduation.” Karley Riffe has worked with Drs. Sheila Slaughter, Barrett J. Taylor, and Sondra N. Barringer on an NSF-funded project to evaluate how university trustees connect AAU institutions to the larger economy. Additionally, she served as a research assistant on a TIAA-sponsored project with Jim Hearn, which addresses the influence of the growing use of contingent faculty members on institutional outcomes. Riffe’s own research explores the nature of faculty work and the changing academic profession within different institutional contexts across colleges and universities in the United States.
