People
Amy Stich
Amy Stich
Associate Professor of Higher Education and Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor of Higher Education and Director of Graduate Studies
Amy E. Stich is an associate professor and director of graduate studies at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education and an affiliate faculty member with the Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies program at the University of Georgia. Stich uses sociological perspectives and qualitative methodologies to study the mechanisms that stratify and reproduce inequality in higher education. Her research has been supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Stich is also a research fellow on a critical participatory action research project examining inequalities in postsecondary debt and repayment funded by the William T. Grant Foundation. She is the author of more than 40 publications, including Access to Inequality: Reconsidering Class, Knowledge, and Capital in Higher Education (Lexington Books) and co-editor of The Working Classes and Higher Education: Inequality of Access, Opportunity, and Outcome (Routledge). At the McBee Institute, Stich teaches introductory and advanced courses in qualitative research and social theory. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the British Journal of the Sociology of Education, The Journal of Higher Education, and The Review of Higher Education.
Stich received her PhD from the University at Buffalo where she was also a postdoctoral research associate on a longitudinal ethnographic study of student transitions from high school to college, supported by the National Science Foundation. Before joining the Institute of Higher Education, Stich was an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations at Northern Illinois University.
Curriculum Vitae:
Stich CV 2025 (52.8 KB)
Education 
Ph.D., University at Buffalo
Professional Appointments
Courses Regularly Taught:
EDHI 8990
EDHI 8930
EDHI 9060
Other Professional Experience
Research Interests:
Dr. Stich’s primary interests of scholarly inquiry are in sociology of education, qualitative methodologies, and social theory.
Grants:
Stich, A. E., Research Fellow. Reducing Inequities in Postsecondary Debt Repayment through a Multi-Sector Research-Practice Partnership. William T. Grant Foundation, (Co-Sponsors: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Spencer Foundation), $650,000 (UGA Sub-award, $72,410).
Webber, K.L. PI, & Stich, A.E., co-PI. The Effect of Geographic Locale on Access to Work-Related Experiential Activities. National Science Foundation, $690,027.
Stich, A. E., PI. The Structure and Consequence of Postsecondary Tracking, National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, $70,000.00.
Awards & Honors
2016 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Publications
*Case, C., *Cumbass, K., & Stich, A. E. (2024). In defense of democratic qualitative research teams: A Bourdieusian approach to critical reflexivity. Qualitative Inquiry.
Stich, A. E., Spencer, G., *Johnson, B., & *Baser, S. (2023). Option B or plan b? School counselors’ sensemaking of a dual enrollment policy in Georgia. Innovative Higher Education.
Stich, A. E. & Crain, A. (2023). Structuring middle-class aspirations: The role of habitus and higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
Stich, A. E. (2020). Beneath the White Noise of Postsecondary Sorting: A Case Study of the “Low” Track in Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education.
Whatley, M. & Stich, A. E. (2020). From exclusive to inclusive: A mixed-methods investigation of study abroad participation and practices. The Journal of Higher Education.
Cipollone, K., Stich, A. E. & Weis, L. (2020). STEM for All: Student Identities and The Paradox of STEM Democratization. Teachers College Record, 122(2), 1-67.
Stich, A.E. (2018). Stratification with honors: A case study of the “high” track in higher education. Special Issue of Social Sciences (Guest Editors: Simon Marginson and Vikki Bolivar), 7(10), 1-17.
Stich, A.E. & Freie, C. (Eds.). (2016). The working classes and higher education: inequality of access, opportunity, and outcome. New York: Routledge.
Stich, A. (2012, 2014). Access to inequality: reconsidering class, knowledge, and capital in higher education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Cipollone, K. & Stich, A.E. (2017). Shadow capital: the democratization of college preparatory education. Sociology of Education, 90(4), 333-354.
Stich, A.E. & Cipollone, K. (2017). In and through the urban educational ‘reform churn’: The illustrative power of qualitative longitudinal research. Urban Education.
Stich, A.E. & Reeves, T.D. (2016). Massive open online courses and underrepresented students’ access to higher education in the United States. The Internet and Higher Education, 32, 58-71.
Weis, L., Eisenhart, M., Cipollone, K, Stich, A., Nikischer, A., Hanson, J., Ohle, S., & Dominguez, R. (2015). In the guise of STEM education reform: opportunity structures and outcomes in inclusive STEM-focused high schools. American Educational Research Journal, 52(6),1024-1059.
Stich, A.E., & Colyar, J.E. (2013). Thinking relationally about studying ‘up.’ British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(5), 729-746.
Other Links
Other Affiliations:
Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies
Research Fellow, Georgia Policy Labs
Amy Stich
Associate Professor of Higher Education and Director of Graduate Studies