Publications

Since 1995, the Pullias Center has engaged in action-oriented projects and research to improve college access and student success, promote equity and diversity, and enhance the performance of postsecondary institutions. The Pullias Center publishes a range of reports, guides, briefs, tool kits and more informed by this higher education research. We have created more than 100 publications and all are free to download here. You can also visit other pages to view articles and chapters as well as numerous books authored by our researchers.

 

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College Access
The Delphi Project
Digital Equity

STEM Reform
Racial Equity
Shared Equity Leadership
Institutional Culture and Change
Guides & Toolkits


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Amarillo College Case Study

Amarillo College Case Study


Elizabeth Holcombe, Ángel de Jesus Gonzalez and Russell Lowery-Hart (Amarillo College)

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2023)

This case study documents the transformation of Amarillo College (AC) from an institution with low retention and completion rates to a community college that has been recognized nationally for its innovative approach to improving student success. In the midst of a budget crisis, President Russell Lowery-Hart worked to both cut costs and streamline bureaucratic processes, while at the same time transforming systems and structures to improve outcomes for students and tackle the challenges of poverty that were holding students back. Facing declining enrollments, a nearly $4 million budget cut from the state, and told by the Board that tuition could not increase, Russell had to figure out a way to cut costs and simultaneously improve the College’s low completion and transfer rates.

Categories: Leadership, Equity and Leadership


  Change Leadership Toolkit     Case Studies     equity and leadership     leadership  
Download 392.39 KB 2067 Downloads
LAERI Research Report: 12th Grade Math and College Success

LAERI Research Report: 12th Grade Math and College Success


Leonard Wainstein, Carrie E. Miller, Meredith Phillips, Kyo Yamashiro, Tatiana Melguizo

UCLA Los Angeles Education Research Institute (2023)

In a new report, Twelfth Grade Math and College Success, LAERI-affiliated researchers build on their work in Twelfth Grade Math and College Access and examine the impact of taking a math course in twelfth grade on L.A. Unified students' science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) course taking and college success.

Categories: Math Equity, Student Success


  college access and success     stem     tatiana melguizo  
Download 2.81 MB 2290 Downloads
Dallas College Case Study

Dallas College Case Study


Elizabeth Holcombe, Ángel de Jesus Gonzalez, Adrianna Kezar and Karen Stills (Dallas College)

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2023)

Karen Stills, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success at Dallas College (DC), led an effort to transform advising for the students at this community college beginning in 2020. In the midst of a merger and reorganization effort, where seven campuses of the Dallas Community College District were consolidated into a single multi-campus institution (Dallas College), Karen had the opportunity to completely rethink advising structures and systems in ways that would improve outcomes for DC’s 100,000+ students. Karen worked with her team to develop an entirely new training and professional development model for the Success Coaches to help them better support students in their educational journeys.

Categories: Leadership, Equity and Leadership


  Change Leadership Toolkit     Case Studies     Equity & Leadership     leadership  
Download 355.39 KB 2739 Downloads
The End of Racial Justice?

The End of Racial Justice?


Jarrett T. Gupton

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2023)

This policy brief analyzes the regressive higher education policy backlash through a racial justice evaluative framework and presents a typology of higher education reform legislation. The brief considers what this means for racial justice in democracy and higher education.

Categories: Policymaking, Racial Equity, Leadership


  equity alumni award     policymaking     alumni     leadership     racial equity  
Download 774.95 KB 2802 Downloads
Postdoctoral Hiring & Equity Issues in STEM: Employment Trends, Policy, and Research

Postdoctoral Hiring & Equity Issues in STEM: Employment Trends, Policy, and Research


Jill Huynh, Kimberlee Shauman

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2021)

Inequities in postdoctoral hiring reflect and contribute to inequities in the scientific labor force more broadly. Although their positions are usually temporary, postdoctorates comprise a substantial proportion of the STEM research workforce and conduct a large share of the work generating laboratory productivity. These researchers are a highly educated and productive, yet relatively inexpensive, source of labor compared to graduate students and staff scientists.

Categories: Equity, Equity and Graduate Education, IGEN


  equity     graduate education     IGEN  
Download 5.05 MB 3103 Downloads

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Promoting Graduate Student Wellbeing: Cultural, Organizational, and Environmental Factors in the Academy

Promoting Graduate Student Wellbeing: Cultural, Organizational, and Environmental Factors in the Academy


Dr. Julie R. Posselt

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2021)

The purpose of this essay is to synthesize current knowledge about cultural, organizational, and environmental factors in higher education which are known to support or inhibit the wellbeing of graduate students. Given that students’ intellectual growth as graduate students is situated within a multi-dimensional developmental process, I pay special attention to ways that graduate education stakeholders-- including graduate school administrators, directors of graduate studies, faculty members, and other staff-- can link student development with the promotion of wellbeing. Finally, I make recommendations for colleges and universities to facilitate learning environments where students can thrive.

Categories: Graduate Education, Equity and Leadership


  equity and leadership     graduate education     julie posselt  
Download 608.78 KB 18466 Downloads
Designing Accessible and Inclusive Professional Development for NTTF Toolkit

Designing Accessible and Inclusive Professional Development for NTTF Toolkit


KC Culver, Adrianna Kezar, and Jennifer Yeh

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2022)

This toolkit is meant to accompany our report “Designing Accessible and Inclusive Professional Development for NTTF,” which was created as part of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success. In this report, we found that a variety of professional development opportunities are often necessary to support NTTF, given their needs, interests, and time constraints. More intensive professional development programs, including faculty learning communities, curricular redesign and departmental action teams, certificate programs, and discussion groups, offer NTTF sustained opportunities for learning and interaction with colleagues. These more intensive programs can offer a number of benefits for NTTF: instructional effectiveness, a sense of belonging, institutional integration and knowledge of resources, a professional network, career development and advancement, and opportunities for advocacy and leadership development.

Categories: Delphi Project


  delphi project     non-tenure-track faculty  
Download 1.96 MB 20901 Downloads
Emotional Labor in Shared Equity Leadership Environments: Creating Emotionally Supportive Spaces

Emotional Labor in Shared Equity Leadership Environments: Creating Emotionally Supportive Spaces


Darsella Vigil, Elizabeth Holcombe, Natsumi Ueda, Adrianna Kezar

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2023)

In this research brief, part of the On Shared Equity Leadership series, we explore what emotional labor looks like in environments where responsibility for DEI leadership is broadly distributed and shared across multiple campus stakeholders, rather than siloed or isolated in a single person or office. While the challenging emotions and emotional labor that accompany DEI work do not disappear in SEL environments, we did find some evidence that the burden is minimized by working in community with other leaders who share the labor. The emotional labor that does still occur is often less burdensome and overwhelming to those involved because of the support they have from colleagues who share both the work and the emotions that come with it. This report first summarizes some of the existing research on emotional labor and DEI work before highlighting the ways in which SEL can alleviate different types of emotional labor.

Categories: Shared Equity Leadership, Equity and Leadership


  shared equity leadership     adrianna kezar     equity and leadership  
Download 1.77 MB 4218 Downloads
Empowering Men of Color in Higher Education: A Focus on Psychological, Social, and Cultural Factors

Empowering Men of Color in Higher Education: A Focus on Psychological, Social, and Cultural Factors


Adrian H. Huerta, Maria Romero-Morales, Jude Paul Matias Dizon, Maritza E. Salazar, Julie Vu Nguyen

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2021)

To understand the factors that contribute to men of color graduating from higher education institutions at lower rates than their same-aged peers, we conducted a literature review of 70 articles related to the experiences of men of color in higher education. We then used the Psychosociocultural (PSC) Framework to capture individual, institutional, and cultural factors that shapestudents’ college experiences, which affords a multi-layered approach to crafting interventions to empower men of color in higher education.
Categories: Men of Color

  Men of Color  
Download 446.17 KB 11733 Downloads
Using Design for Equity in Higher Education for Liberatory Change: A Guide for Practice

Using Design for Equity in Higher Education for Liberatory Change: A Guide for Practice


KC Culver, Jordan Harper, and Adrianna Kezar

Pullias Center for Higher Education (2021)

This toolkit helps design teams engage in this process of implementing the Design for Equity in Higher Education model,  For each phase of the model, this toolkit provides a short description and offers some questions and suggestions to guide practice.

Categories: Delphi Project, Racial Equity, Guides


  design thinking     policymaking     delphi project     racial equity  
Download 326.93 KB 28989 Downloads

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Leading After a Racial Crisis: Weaving a Campus Tapestry of Diversity and Inclusion

Leading After a Racial Crisis: Weaving a Campus Tapestry of Diversity and Inclusion


Sharon Fries-Britt and Adrianna Kezar (2020)

A report from the American Council on Education (ACE) on research exploring University of Missouri’s progress with diversity, equity, and inclusion in the years following the 2015-16 racial crisis on campus. Note: This document is hosted on the ACE website.

Download from ACE

Categories: Institutional Culture, Student Success, Racial Equity


  ACE     administrator     adrianna kezar     DEI     diversity     institutional change     institutional culture     leadership     lorelle espinosa     racial equity     student success  
Download 206.54 KB 15538 Downloads
Bolstering First-Year Success Through Digital Tools

Bolstering First-Year Success Through Digital Tools


Tattiya Maruco, Zoë B. Corwin, Christine Rocha, and Maria Romero-Morales (2020)

 

To address the challenges of fostering a sense of belonging and ultimately improving academic success, USC’s Pullias Center for Higher Education and the Get Schooled Foundation partnered with California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) to create an online tool called Toros Charge On! designed to assist students in navigating campus resources and learning skills conducive to college success.  This report shares the findings from that study.

Categories: College Access, Digital Equity, Student Success


  college access and success     technology     zoe corwin  
Download 4.49 MB 20488 Downloads
Beyond the Board: Findings from the Field

Beyond the Board: Findings from the Field


Zoë B. Corwin, Tattiya Maruco, Neftalie Williams, Robert Reichardt, Maria Romero-Morales, Christine Rocha, and Constanza Astiazaran (2019)

 

A groundbreaking study of skateboarding culture that explores the lives of underrepresented young adult skateboarders within a society that isolates them due to their negative misconceptions and preconceived notions. The research team examined skateboarding culture through the skateboarders' perception of life and reveals how skateboarding shapes and supports them in terms of personal development.

Categories: College Access, Skateboarding


  skateboarding     zoe corwin  
Download 4.75 MB 13134 Downloads
Increasing Student Success: Understanding the Impact of a Comprehensive College Transition Program

Increasing Student Success: Understanding the Impact of a Comprehensive College Transition Program


Tatiana Melguizo, Francisco (Paco) Martorell, Elise Swanson, & Adrianna Kezar (2020)

 

This report summarizes the main findings of the Promoting At-Promise Student Success Project (PASS), formerly known as the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC) Study. The project seeks to explore, document, and better understand whether the PASS program, a comprehensive college transition program at three University of Nebraska campuses, translates into greater student success.

Categories: College Access, Student Success


  adrianna kezar     elise swanson     student success     tatiana melguizo     tslc  
Download 292.46 KB 23285 Downloads
Scaling Change in Higher Education: A Guide for Stakeholder Groups

Scaling Change in Higher Education: A Guide for Stakeholder Groups


Adrianna Kezar, Elizabeth Holcombe, Joseph Kitchen (2018)

Created for key external stakeholder groups that support change and reform of the higher education enterprise, this guide presents a toolkit with practical advice on how to be effective partners in working with colleges and universities to support changes that go to scale.

The guide serves as an action-oriented companion piece to the report, Scaling Improvement in STEM Learning Environments: The Strategic Role of a National Organization.

Categories: STEM Reform, Guides


  stem  
Download 543.30 KB 20411 Downloads

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Non-Tenure-Track Faculty on our Campus: A Guide for Campus Task Forces to Better Understand Faculty Working Conditions and the Necessity of Change

Non-Tenure-Track Faculty on our Campus: A Guide for Campus Task Forces to Better Understand Faculty Working Conditions and the Necessity of Change


The Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success (2012)

This guide is designed for use by task forces, committees, or groups who would like to examine non-tenure-track faculty practices and issues at the campus level. Its question sections, discussion questions, and concluding questions guide practitioners through the process of examining non-tenure-track faculty issues on campus and help them to better understand challenges associated with current practices and begin to build the rationale for change.

Categories: Delphi Project, Guides


  adjunct faculty     assessment     contingent faculty     non-tenure-track faculty     salary and benefits     worksheets  
Download 981.28 KB 65863 Downloads
Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in our Department: A Guide for Departments and Academic Programs to Better Understand Faculty Working Conditions and the Necessity of Change

Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in our Department: A Guide for Departments and Academic Programs to Better Understand Faculty Working Conditions and the Necessity of Change


The Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success (2012)

This guide is designed for use by faculty and staff at the department level who would like to examine non-tenure-track faculty practices and issues. Its question sections, discussion questions, and concluding questions guide practitioners through the process of examining non-tenure-track faculty issues in the department and help them to better understand challenges associated with current practices and begin to build the rationale for change.

Categories: Delphi Project, Guides


  adjunct faculty     assessment     contingent faculty     non-tenure-track faculty     salary and benefits     worksheets  
Download 784.45 KB 60952 Downloads
The Imperative for Change: Fostering Understanding of the Necessity of Changing Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Policies and Practices

The Imperative for Change: Fostering Understanding of the Necessity of Changing Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Policies and Practices


Adrianna Kezar, Daniel Maxey, Lara Badke (2014)

This summary outlines the necessity for addressing the changing faculty and its implications for student learning outcomes, equity, and institutional risk management. It aims to build an understanding of the implications of the current faculty model and policies and practices affecting non-tenure-track faculty, as well as to facilitate a conversation about change that begins with a shared appreciation of the potential risks of inaction or inattention to these problems.

Categories: Delphi Project, Student Success


  adjunct faculty     community college     contingent faculty     non-tenure-track faculty     salary and benefits     statistics     student success  
Download 451.35 KB 55805 Downloads
Departmental Cultures and Non-Tenure-Track Faculty: A Self-Assessment Tool for Departments

Departmental Cultures and Non-Tenure-Track Faculty: A Self-Assessment Tool for Departments


The Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success (2015)

This self-assessment tool is a detailed survey that can be used by colleges and universities to get direct, actionable feedback from non-tenure-track faculty. The survey, which can be administered by campus leaders, department chairs, union leaders or even by non-tenure-track faculty groups themselves, can be used to assess existing departmental cultures, with the goal to improve campus climate based on those findings.

The tool also includes profiles and detailed descriptions of each culture, which can guide departmental faculty and staff towards creating a more supportive environment for their non-tenure-track colleagues.

Categories: Delphi Project, Guides


  adjunct faculty     assessment     contingent faculty     non-tenure-track faculty     salary and benefits  
Download 267.03 KB 50493 Downloads
Report on the Project Working Meeting

Report on the Project Working Meeting


The Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success (2013)

On May 18, 2012, more than 30 participants convened outside Washington, D.C. to discuss the issues faced by non tenure track faculty and to formulate strategies to respond to these challenges in new ways. The two meta-strategies that emerged from the meeting and are captured in this report are the result of a year of planning and collaboration among the project staff, our partners at AAC&U, and participants representing key stakeholder groups from across higher education.  Following the meta-strategies is a summary of the meeting, which captures the various perspectives, concerns, and ideas exchanged among project participants in a convening of the full group, as well as more targeted small group discussions.

Categories: Delphi Project, Student Success


  adjunct faculty     community college     contingent faculty     new faculty models     non-tenure-track faculty     salary and benefits     statistics     student success  
Download 2.30 MB 44432 Downloads

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