Pullias Center welcomes 7 new scholars

The Pullias Center for Higher Education is proud to announce the addition of seven new researchers!

First, we welcome two new postdoctoral research associates, Román Liera and James Dean Ward. Liera, a qualitative researcher who studies racial equity in student outcomes and faculty participation, works on projects that promote equity in graduate education with Julie Posselt, an assistant professor of higher education at the USC Rossier School of Education and Pullias Center faculty member. Ward, a former Pullias Center research assistant who conducts equity-based research, returns to work on the Math Pathways Project with Tatiana Melguizo, an associate professor at USC Rossier and a Pullias Center faculty member.

The Pullias Center also gained three research assistants—Lauren Irwin, Aireale Rodgers and Cynthia Villareal—all PhD students in the Urban Education Policy program at USC Rossier. The new research assistants are  advised by Posselt, as is the Pullias Center’s new doctoral student assistant, Steve Desir.

In addition, Maria Romero-Morales recently joined the Pullias Center as a research project specialist. Romero-Morales, who has has more than 10 years of teaching experience at inner city high schools and community college, works with Pullias Center research associate professor Zoë B. Corwin as part of the Digital Equity in Education and skate culture research teams.

With the new additions, the Pullias Center is home to nine faculty members, five postdoctoral scholars and 15 research assistants, who conduct higher education research to advances innovative, scalable solutions to improve college outcomes for underserved students and to enhance the performance of postsecondary institutions.