William G. Tierney, University Professor Emeritus and the Founding Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, shares his reflections on the center as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary. This is the first in a series of such reflections from key figures in the center’s past and present that will be shared throughout 2020. […]
A substantial majority of low-income, first-generation and racially-minoritized students begin their college journeys in community colleges. Rigorous empirical research nationwide has documented that a major road block for community college students to earn a certificate, an associate degree (AA), or transfer to a four-year college, is placement in developmental math and English courses. There is a plethora of research documenting […]
This October began with a momentous court decision. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled in favor of Harvard University in a court case that challenged the consideration of race in the university’s admissions process. The decision vindicated those who have long advocated for race-conscious practices, yet we know that the case is not over. The plaintiff has already appealed […]
One of the most significant challenges facing colleges and universities remains how to increase success among the more diverse populations of students transitioning into higher education. First generation, low income, and racially minoritized students are entering college campuses at a higher rate than ever before. Yet the completion rates of these three categories remain significantly behind traditional student populations. The […]
There is little notice of or conversation about the significant – perhaps catastrophic — employment changes taking place at colleges and universities. After decades of ignoring the adjunctification of faculty, we now see the transformation of almost every employment category in higher education – graduate students, postdocs, research faculty, and staff. These groups are being outsourced, facing contingency and marginalization, just […]
Pullias Center researchers debuted an innovative digital initiative to bolster first-year persistence at California State University, Dominguez Hills last fall. Called Charge On!, the social campaign is now starting to get initial data—and received coverage on KPCC and LAist, with quotes from Pullias faculty member Zoë B. Corwin, the lead researcher on this project: Charge On reached a milestone last week. On […]
A recent guest blog post by Paula Patch in Inside Higher Ed featured the work of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, a project of the Pullias Center that provides tools and resources to help create new faculty models and better support faculty off the tenure track to enhance higher education institutions. A better way to understand the […]
Pullias co-director William G. Tierney was quoted in a number of major newspapers about USC’s involvement in the recently uncovered college admissions cheating scandal and the appointment of USC’s president-elect Carol L. Folt. Financial Times, Admissions scandal hits “university of spoiled children” “Instead of cultivating an environment of reflection and reasoned debate, the university sprinted toward growth,” William Tierney, a professor […]
Pullias faculty member Julie Posselt was interviewed about the many legal strategies used by the wealthy to tilt college admissions decisions in their favor by WORT 89.9, a listener-sponsored community radio station in Madison, Wisc. The segment, titled “The Meritocracy Myth of College Admissions,” comes on the heels of the recently uncovered college admissions cheating scandal at USC and other colleges and universities. Listen to the […]
This op-ed — authored by Pullias co-director William G. Tierney — was originally published in The Los Angeles Times on March 21, 2019. ___ To say USC has had a dramatic couple of years would be an understatement. A drug-using medical school dean, a health center doctor accused of sexual misconduct, President C.L. Max Nikias pushed out under duress, a business school dean […]