IHE Visiting Scholars

Thurston Domina, associate professor of education and sociology at the University of California-Irvine, was an IHE visiting scholar for the 2014-2015 academic year. Domina’s research pairs demographic and econometric empirical methods with sociological theory to better understand the relationship between education and social inequality in the contemporary U.S. “I’m committing more time and energy to researching undergraduate education lately as I take the lead on an NSF-funded project that’s dedicated to documenting instructional practices in large STEM lecture courses and tracing their link to student persistence,” he said. “IHE was an ideal place to work on the data analysis stage of this project.”

While at UGA, Domina collected data related to placement practices and instruction in secondary and postsecondary mathematics and science classes and used these data to investigate the links between institutional practices and student achievement and attainment. Upon completion of his year with IHE, Domina began fall semester at the University of North Carolina‒Chapel Hill as associate professor of educational policy and sociology.

Sedat Gumus, associate professor of education at Necmettin Erbakan University, in Konya, Turkey will be in residence for academic year 2015-16. He also works as the director of international relations at the Council of Higher Education, Turkey’s national higher education planning and coordination body. His research interests include issues such as finance, coordination and governance of higher education. His primary research at UGA will focus on state-level higher education coordination and accreditation bodies in the U.S.

“The Institute is a good fit for me because there are many professors who are nationally known experts in higher education research, specifically in the governance of higher education,” he says. “Also, having graduate programs is very important, as I plan to visit classes to learn more about the U.S. higher education sys­tem and to share my knowledge on Turkish and European higher education systems with the students. Later in the year, I have been asked to give a presentation on Turkish higher education, which is a very centralized system compared to the U.S.”

Ilkka Kauppinen, senior lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), spent summer 2015 at IHE. During his visit, he coauthored and completed a manuscript with Sheila Slaughter and Brendan Cantwell (Michigan State) on the emergence of the European Research Area (ERA). He also prepared a research proposal to the Academy of Finland. “Visiting the IHE is always a pleasure and a privilege,” said Kauppinen. “During the years my research has benefited significantly from these visits and hopefully I am able to give something back in return.”

Kauppinen is also a fellow at the IHE and began his scholarly visits in 2010 when he spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar.