People
Stephanie Aguilar-Smith
Stephanie Aguilar-Smith
Assistant Professor of Higher Education
Assistant Professor of Higher Education
Dr. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith is an assistant professor at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education (MIHE). Prior to joining MIHE, Dr. Aguilar-Smith served on the faculty at the University of North Texas, following a higher education career spanning enrollment management, academic advising, program development, and writing center administration across several research universities.
Her critically bent research straddles organizational and policy studies, broadly examining the reproduction of (racialized) inequalities within the hierarchical and stratified system of U.S. higher education. In particular, her work centers Minority-Serving Institutions, especially Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and focuses on higher education funding policies, namely their racialized mechanisms and inequalities.
Dr. Aguilar-Smith has authored a range of scholarly works, including reports published by national organizations like the American Council on Education and peer-reviewed journal articles published in The Review of Higher Education, AERA Open, Educational Policy, and Community College Review, among other leading outlets. This scholarship has received national recognition, with, for example, the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Council for the Study of Ethnic Participation awarding Dr. Aguilar-Smith the 2024 Mildred García Award for Exemplary Scholarship.
Dr. Aguilar-Smith also engages the field through her active involvement in various professional associations, including ASHE (where she also currently serves on their Ethics Committee), the American Educational Research Association, and the Council for the Study of Community Colleges.
Dr. Aguilar-Smith earned her Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education and a graduate certificate in Chicano and Latino Studies from Michigan State University. She is also a proud “Double Dawg,” having received her master’s in public administration with a specialization in higher education administration and B.A.s in journalism (public relations) and international affairs and minor in Spanish from the University of Georgia.
Curriculum Vitae:
Stephanie Aguilar-Smith CV Spring 2026
Education 
Ph.D., Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University
Graduate Certificate, Chicano and Latino Studies, Michigan State University
M.A., Public Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., International Affairs, University of Georgia
B.A., Journalism (Public Relations), University of Georgia
Professional Appointments
Courses Regularly Taught:
EDHI 9050
EDHI 8400
Publications
Doran, E., & Aguilar-Smith, S. (2025). Money isn’t free: A study of influences on grant-seeking and making at Hispanic-serving community colleges. AERA Open, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251321451
Aguilar-Smith, S., & Villarreal, C. (2025). The (re)production of racialized inequality among Hispanic-serving institutions: A study of forms of capital mobilized in the competitive grantscape. The Review of Higher Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.0.a951630
Hall, K.A., & Aguilar-Smith, S. (2024). Living in a liminal space: Implications for pre-tenure faculty to refuse loveless neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–18. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2024.2416702
Ro, H., Aguilar-Smith, S., Anderson, S., Rodriguez, T., Ramon, E., & Javier, D. (2024). Attending to STEM in servingness at Hispanic-serving institutions: A systematic review of more than a decade of scholarship. International Journal of STEM Education, 11(33). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00489-0
McCambly, H., & Aguilar-Smith, S. (2024). Racialized patterns in the distribution of congressional pork: Implications for postsecondary equity and organizational transformation. AERA Open, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241245973
Aguilar-Smith, S., & Doran, E. (2024). The expansion of Title V: A historical analysis of the Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans program. Educational Policy, 38(2), 320–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231153608
Ortega, G., Aguilar-Smith, S., Lizalde, G., & Porras, C. (2024). Barriers to power: Exploring the troubled trajectories of Latinx executive leaders at HSIs. Innovative Higher Education, 49, 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09649-6
McCambly, H., Aguilar-Smith, S, Felix, E., Hu, X., & Barber, L. (2023). Community colleges as racialized spaces: Outlining challenges and opportunities for equity. Community College Review, 55(4), 658–679. https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521231182121
Aguilar-Smith, S., & Yun, J. T. (2023). Toward ensuring the equitable allocation of federal funding: An analysis of Hispanic-serving institutions’ pursuit and receipt of Title V grants. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31(58), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7281
Marin, P., & Aguilar-Smith, S. (2023). The evolving narrative of Hispanic serving institutions? A systematic review of more than 20 years of research. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 22(4), 446–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927221137691
Aguilar-Smith, S. (2023). A critical qualitative study of inequities in Hispanic-serving institutions’ grant-seeking competitiveness. Educational Policy, 37(6), 1637–1671. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048221120272
Aguilar-Smith, S. (2021). Seeking to serve or $erve? Hispanic-serving institutions’ pursuit of racialized funding. AERA Open, 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211057097
Aguilar-Smith, S., & Gonzales, L. D. (2021). A study of community college faculty work expectations: Generous educators and their managed generosity. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 45(3), 184–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2019.1666062
Stephanie Aguilar-Smith
Assistant Professor of Higher Education