Institute of Higher Education Dissertation Named Runner-up for 2015 National Award

An Institute of Higher Education graduate’s dissertation has been selected as the runner-up (semi-finalist) for the Politics of Education Association Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award. Mary Milan Deupree’s (Ph.D. 2013) dissertation “’Policy Be Damned, Research Be Damned’: A Multiple Case Study of Research Use in Undocumented Student Policy Decisions,” will be recognized at the 2015 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in Chicago in April.

The award is designed to foster and support graduate student research and publication on political processes and outcomes in organized education grades pre-K–16, from the United States and abroad. One aim is to highlight and reward scholars studying political issues in education, as distinct from the interdisciplinary approaches taken by policy studies.

“This is a tremendous honor, and well-deserved one, for Mary’s dissertation examining the use of research (or lack thereof) in undocumented student policy decisions,” said Erik Ness, associate professor and graduate coordinator at the Institute of Higher Education. “As its provocative title suggests, her study has serious implications for DREAM Act policies and for our conceptual understanding of the policymaking process. Congratulations, Dr. Deupree!”

“Such exciting news!,” Deupree said. "I appreciate the PEA Dissertation of the Year committee’s consideration and feel very honored to be recognized for my work. I offer my sincere thanks to Sheila Slaughter, Jim Hearn, and especially Erik Ness, for their sage guidance on this project. I really enjoyed working on it and believe a study examining the connection (or lack thereof) between research and policy in undocumented student tuition and admissions decision is important work. By more deeply understanding the process by which state policymakers determine tuition and admissions policies for undocumented college students, the information used to make those decisions, and the sometimes overtly political strategies through which higher education policy emerges, hopefully individuals and organizations may better affect change in the policy process."

The Institute of Higher Education is an academic unit of the University of Georgia committed to advancing higher education policy, management and leadership through research, graduate education and outreach. The Institute’s mission encompasses higher education issues at the campus, state, national and international levels.