Alum in Higher Education

Research Interests: International Education, Education Abroad, DEI.

Thesis Topic: Plotkin’s Higher Education Sunshine Law and Impacts on U.S. Study Abroad Programs

Career Goal: Increase access to quality, learning outcome-driven global experiences for students and faculty in a changing world.

Current Role: Customized Programs Coordinator for Penn State Global Education Abroad; Penn State University, University Park, PA

Current role: Assistant Director of Career Development at Alvernia University in Reading, PA.

Overall career goal: To always have a role in which I can partner with students and alumni as they identify and pursue their goals so they can lead fulfilling lives. 

Dissertation/Thesis Topic or career goal: To serve at the nexus of assessment, institutional research, and accreditation to support institutional excellence, faculty productivity, and student achievement

Current role: Research Associate of Institutional Research at Suffolk University.

Dissertation topic: The distribution of higher education subsidies in the United States.

Research interests: Data analytics and quantitative methods in higher education, with a focus on education finance, economics, and policy.

Current Role: Academic Affairs Team | Director, UC Online and Assistant Professor at University of the Cumberlands

Research Interests: Online Education, Higher Education Leadership, Student Success, Program Planning and Assessment

Dissertation Topic: Understanding Online Student Success through the use of Astin's IEO Model

Research Interests: Improve international student experience. International student enrollment management

Thesis Topic: Acculturation of International Students through Student Engagement Programs

Branden's dissertation titled, “Identity Negotiation Among Black Administrators at a PWI” interrogated the duality of being Black and holding positions of leadership in spaces where these identities are minoritized and undervalued. His dissertation was awarded the 2021 Dr. Marcia Clarke-Yapi Award for innovatively addressing equity issues in higher education. Branden’s scholarship also contributes to the lack of representative identities in diversity leadership. In 2019, he co-authored a chapter titled, Leadership for Equity-Minded Data Use Toward Racial Equity in Higher Education, which provides recommendations for leaders who seek to build capacities for anti-racists responses. As a scholar-practitioner, Branden focuses on identifying pathways for equity, access, and inclusion of diverse identities. His work strategically promotes and advocates for racial mental health support and well-being in the academic and workplace setting. Branden’s areas of expertise and consultation experience include: assessing needs for inclusive student support; increasing diverse student success; implementing multicultural leadership development; and structuring equity-minded decision making practices for institutional and organizational policy leaders.

Current role: Director of Academic Integrity at West Virginia University. 

Research interests: Organizational leadership, student development, and academic and professional ethics.  Dissertation topic was exploring academic integrity behaviors in undergraduate business students. 

Current Position: International Proposal Developer, Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Office (SIRO) at Penn State 

Research Interests: International education, higher education, institutional research, organizational culture 

Dissertation/Thesis Topic: Internationalization of higher education

Current Role: Director of Data Analysis and Research at the University of North Carolina System 

Research Interests: Data analytics, institutional research, policy and decision support, student success, and the economics and finance of higher education.

Dissertation Topic: Identifying gaps in college expectations, access, and completion by first-generation status. 

Research interests: Economics of education, college and career pathways, program evaluation/policy analysis, and quasi-experimental methods. Starting this fall, I will be pursuing my DPhil at Oxford, where I will be studying the socioeconomic effects of college and career pathways of high school students in Massachusetts.  

Current Position: Student Services, College of Health and Human Development, Penn State University

Dissertation/Thesis Topic: Understanding the influence of contractual agreements on international sponsored students' academic experiences in U.S. universities

Research Interests: Higher Education Administration, Student Services, Student Success, International Students’ Experiences, International Education….

Overall career goal: Higher Education role positively impacting student services and success

Current Role: Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Des Moines University (DMU).

Research Interests: Higher Education, Interprofessional Education

Research Interests: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education, Supporting Underrepresented Student Populations

Dissertation/Thesis Topic: Capstone - “Applying Disaggregated Asian American Student Data to Astin’s I-E-O Model”

Research Interests: Successful recruitment strategies of first generation, minority, and underrepresented students

Capstone Topic: Exploring the experiences of being an ethnic minority student within undergraduate education

Career Goal: Director of Enrollment Management

Research Interests: Mentorship, Student Leadership Development, Spirituality and Faith, Enneagram, Advising

Dissertation/Thesis Topic or career goal: By going through the M.Ed. program, I plan on entering various positions in Higher-Ed (with a focus on Student Affairs.) Such as advising, student programming, student leadership development, mentorship programming, Spiritual Life. I also plan to pursue teaching positions in Student Ministry, Bible, and 1st-Year Seminar courses (focusing on the Enneagram).

Current Position: Data Governance Analyst at Stanford University 

Department: Institutional Research and Decision Support 

Research Interests: Predictive Analytics, Leveraging Mindset Interventions to Support Student Success, Data Governance, Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education 

Career Goal: Helping individuals and higher education departments and institutions achieve their highest potentials by promoting self-awareness and strengths-based approaches.

Research Interests: I am interested in the overall student experience, particularly for first-generation and international students.

Career Goals: My career goals continue to change as I learn more in my courses and especially now that I have taken a new role at a new university.  However, I am interested in implementing or becoming director of a program geared to advise, engage, and support first-generation students or international students throughout their journey through college.

Research and Career Interests: Career Services, Career Services Counseling, Multicultural Counseling, and Non-Traditional Student Counseling, Academic and Student Based Advising, Student Success, and Health and Wellness. 

Career goal: My career goals tend to be simple, hopeful, and open to change. I would love to work one-on-one with students, leading and guiding them towards healthier life choices; whether that be in their academic world- regarding their career, classes, or extracurriculars, or in their mental, emotional, and physical world- walking with them as they learn how to pursue an overall healthier lifestyle. 

One of my deepest desires is to have a career where I can speak up and make room for the ones who often get left behind or forgotten. I want to find the places where students "hide" or get stuck and help them feel supported and seen. I hope to be able to make room for these students, meet them where they are, and help them have the courage and strength to continue to move forward in these spaces. 

Research interests: Academic and career counseling/advising, student success, emotional and physical health/wellness, and legal issues

Career goal: Ultimately hope to work with students one on one to support the student and career experience through advising and campus engagement.

Research Interests: Student outcomes and the student experience as it relates to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive higher education environment within an institution and its surrounding communities. 

Capstone topic/Career goals: To evaluate the process of curricular development and evaluation through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion to improve student outcomes for diverse or marginalized students. 

Research Interests: My main focus is the relationship between study abroad and student success, but I also have an interest in global engagement and cultural diversity.

Career goal: To work with Study Abroad and/or International students to help them achieve their personal educational goals. 

Research interests: I am interested in social stratification and higher education and am currently using an organizational lens to explore how colleges and universities engage with the parents/families of college students to understand how that might stratify the college experience.

Research Interest: Engagement of commuter students

Career Goal: To work as an academic or career advisor with a focus on developing a supportive educational environment that encourages students’ self-discovery by considering their specific interests, goals, and individual needs

Research interests: Education Policy, Higher Education Fundraising/Advancement and Government relations with Higher Education.

Career goal: To work with advancement and government relations in a central administration position at a top university.

Research Interests: My interests are in higher education policy, equity, organization, and governance.

Dissertation/Thesis Topic:  Demographic Change and the Fiscal Sustainability of Public Regional Colleges and Universities

Research Interests: The experiences of Black Caribbean women in accessing and completing higher education at predominately white institutions, as well as trauma and its impacts on minoritized university students’ outcomes and success in higher education.