Research Areas
Higher Education Student Success
Student success means improved skills, increased employability, and economic growth for families, communities, and our nation. While society widely accepts the importance and value of higher education as a public good, fewer than 40 percent of our nation’s undergraduates complete a college degree within six years. My interest in student success is focused on college completion. Many students are high-need, low-resourced individuals who benefit from intrusive support to ensure their success. As a first-generation college student, I navigated the college process with the help of support programs. Colleges need to implement strategies that support students academically, socially, emotionally, and culturally to increase college completion and support student success.
Community Colleges
Nearly one-half of all students seeking higher education choose a community college. Community colleges are an indispensable asset in our nation’s efforts to ensure and preserve access to higher education and success for all students, particularly students of color, low-income students, and other historically underrepresented student populations. Community colleges remain the nation’s gateways to good jobs for millions of students who dream of a better tomorrow. American public community colleges are designed to expand higher education access to students from underserved groups who will make up an increasingly larger slice of the U.S. population. My research takes a close look at how community colleges should work to close the achieve gap and increase access to historically underrepresented groups.
Race and Racism
Higher education was originally designed to serve the White majority and prohibited women and people of color from participating in higher education. As a result of the Jim Crow statutory landscape of separate and unequal access, racism has manifested in higher education policy at federal, state, and institutional levels. My research on race and racism is to raise a level of awareness on helping students navigate predominantly White institutions (PWI) and structural racism. The research focuses on the importance of policies that create levels of equity and access. Specifically, examining systemic ways in which racism operates and must be addressed. Primarily examining anti-racist pedagogies that help to create a safe space for students to learn.