Guest Editor Julie Posselt, Pullias Center Associate Professor
Dear Colleagues,
In the swirl of discourse about standardized tests, test-optional admissions, rankings and affirmative action returning to the Supreme Court, beliefs about merit are a powerful, underlying force that we need to grapple with. Who deserves access to scarce opportunities? How do we account for the centuries of racial inequities that mark national and organizational histories? What should we do when standard tools for assessing merit themselves privilege racial/ethnic groups who are already over-represented? These are just a few questions that underlie current debates.
In this month’s newsletter, we provide updates about recent developments on my team’s research-practice partnerships. We conduct research that documents the racialized causes and consequences of typical approaches to defining and rewarding merit. Our team addresses how these issues show up in processes as wide-ranging as admissions, teaching, mentoring, qualifying exams, and leadership. We’re also studying the implementation of efforts to better align admissions practices with values of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The projects across the Pullias Center’s Equity in Graduate Education portfolio involve collaborations across universities, disciplines, and even national borders, and we are re-imagining standard practice in ways that advance equity. Our work linking faculty professional development and institutional change is having direct impact.
Among the 27 PhD program partners in the pilot of the California Consortium for Inclusive Doctoral Education (C-CIDE), external evaluation found significant increases in the number and percentage of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students who applied, were admitted, and enrolled. We are now scaling up this pilot into a national consortium, and a group of six universities in England is replicating it. Read more about these new projects below.
Especially as graduate degrees become increasingly expected in the labor market, we cannot settle for program design that reproduces inequalities. We need critical thinking about the values and practices that we inherited. And, we ought to retain enough curiosity and creativity to reimagine meritocratic selection itself.
I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the members of my fabulous group who are completing their doctorates in the next few months: Aireale Rodgers, Deborah Southern, Steve Desir, and Theresa Hernandez, as well as Jude Paul Dizon from the Pullias Center. I’m immensely proud of each of them for persisting through the pandemic. Though it’s hard to imagine life at USC without our collaborations and the community of care that we’ve created, one of the beautiful things about universities and their admissions processes is the hope that through them, new students will join our Center and community in a few short months.
Warmly,
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Associate Professor of Higher Education, Pullias Center and Rossier School of Education
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Successful C-CIDE Program Expands Nationally: Now the Equity in Graduation Education Consortium |
In 2018, USC Associate Professor Julie Posselt saw a pressing need for a scalable, sustainable system for faculty to learn about basic issues of inequality and justice in graduate education. Posselt believed this type of system was necessary for advancing racial equity and diversity, and could serve as a catalyst for systemic and cultural change in doctoral education. Soon, the California Consortium for
The initial partnership included campus leaders from six California institutions, with funding provided by a National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education grant. Together, they created and delivered research-rich workshops to encourage reflection, discussion, and change to admissions processes. This is complemented by ongoing coaching for leaders in change management, a learning community of graduate school administrators, and a facilitator training through which universities can host such workshops themselves.
Four years later, as the nation and graduate education community grapple with impacts of COVID-19 and a rise in racial violence, more universities and graduate programs across the country have expressed their desire to participate in the C-CIDE community and benefit from its resources. As a result, the Consortium is expanding to meet this need.
With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, C-CIDE is scaling-up nationally under our new name, the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium. The newly-expanded Consortium builds on the knowledge developed in C-CIDE and will provide additional opportunities for professional learning and development for partners in two tracks:
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Delphi Award Applications Now Open -
$15,000 Given to Institutions that Support Non-Tenure-Track Faculty with Innovative Programs
The Pullias Center and AAC&U are pleased to announce that the 2022 Delphi Award application is now open. The annual Delphi Award, now in its fifth year, presents a $15,000 cash award to two universities who support non-tenure-track, contingent and/or adjunct faculty in pursuing strategic priorities such as student learning and community engagement. If you, your organization, or university have worked to support non-tenure-track, contingent and/or adjunct faculty, apply today! The application deadline is July 1.
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Meet Pullias Center Researchers
at AERA 2022
Join the faculty, researchers and doctoral candidates of USC's Pullias Center for Higher Education presenting at the AERA annual meeting. See our full schedule here.
More News from AERA:
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Royel M. Johnson was selected to receive 2022 Carlos J. Vallejo Memorial Award for Emerging Scholarship from AERA’s Multicultural/Multiethnic Education SIG.
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Royel M. Johnson was awarded $35,000 from the American Education Research Association/National Science Foundation. His study is titled: “Measuring the varying effects of juvenile arrest on college enrollment: the role of school level factors.”
Congratulations Dr. Johnson!
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California Community Colleges Chancellor Welcomed to the 43rd Pullias Lecture
On March 10, the Pullias Center team was pleased to welcome keynote speaker Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to the 43rd Pullias Lecture.
"Equity in Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World: The Way Forward Cannot Replicate the Past," was the title of Ortiz Oakley's inspiring keynote.
Thank you to Chancellor Ortiz Oakley, Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera, Pullias Center Director Adrianna Kezar and all who attended the event.
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Adrian H. Huerta, Maria Romero-Morales, Jude Paul Matias Dizon, Julie Vu Nguyen
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MORE NEWS
- Zoe Corwin and Ron Hallett spoke on Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) – Conversation with the University Innovation Alliance at the University Innovation Alliance Annual Meeting.
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Jordan Harper was invited to present a two-day workshop titled “Impractical Demands”: Notes on Leadership, Structures, and Breaks in the Rhythm at San Jose State University.
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Elizabeth Holcombe gave a keynote address titled “Shared Equity Leadership” for a convening of APLU’s Commission on Diversity, Access and Excellence on March 23, 2022.
- Adrian Huerta was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation to study student parents in community college.
- Adrian Huerta is an Affiliate Board Member for the University of Oklahoma - Carceral Studies Consortium.
- Ángel González was awarded the 2022 National NASPA Community College Research and Scholarship Award. This award honors prominent research and scholarship in higher education and student affairs in particular research supporting the community college sector.
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Adrianna Kezar is speaking on April 13 at 10:30 am (PT) at the Association for Governing Boards’ 2022 National Conference on Trusteeship (virtual) on the subject of “The Future of Faculty Work and Governance: Critical Choices for Boards and Presidents.”
- Adrianna Kezar will be a plenary speaker on shared equity leadership for culture change at the SUNY Guided Pathways conference on April 21st, from 10:00 am - 11:30 am (PT).
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THE PULLIAS CENTER FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION
Promoting Equity in Higher Education
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The World's Leading Research Center on Student Access and Success in Higher Education |
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