Higher Education Researchers Workgroup

The goal of this group is to bring together qualitative and quantitative higher education researchers working on issues at Berkeley, the University of California, the State of California or elsewhere for the mutual exchange of knowledge, ideas and issues through:
  • Acquainting one another with their respective research
  • Discussing our research strategies, data base use and data issues
  • Engaging with the questions raised by all of our work
  • Supporting each others’ work by providing feedback on substance and presentation
  • Creating an ongoing list of projects past and present for eventual posting on the CSHE website
Too often higher education data driven researchers on and off campus work alone and they are unfamiliar with the breadth of research even on the Berkeley campus. There also is not necessarily communication among qualitative and quantitative researchers although many researchers use both types of data. Additionally there often is a disciplinary divide. This group is intended to overcome these to the enrichment of all participants. All are welcome including international visiting scholars who may be working on higher education issues in their own country. 

Format

  • Monthly meetings for an hour and a half
  • At every meeting a check in with new and existing members about their project(s)
  • When possible prior to each meeting an abstract, proposal, raw summary, finished or draft piece should be circulated among the group
  • At the meeting the author informally presents a summary of his or her research questions and issues and does not necessarily make a formal presentation—this is research in progress
  • Depending on the consensus of the group pertinent articles by non-members could be circulated and discussed for the issues germane to the participants

Meeting Details

First Thursday of every month in person and on Zoom
Graduate students and postdocs are particularly encouraged to attend.

Contact

This workgroup is organized and chaired by CSHE Senior Researcher Emerita, Anne MacLachlan. 
For more information regarding this workgroup please contact Anne at maclach@berkeley.edu.

Past Presentations

Februray 6, 2025. The History of Doctoral Women in the US: A History Still in the Margins. Anne MachLachlan (Senior Research Associate, CSHE). 

Summary. Women were marginalized from the beginning of their participation in doctoral education by admission difficulties, not credited for the work they did as graduate assistants, and in unreliable data on them. To succeed women were in supportive networks of educated families, the emerging Association of Collegiate Women (1882), the YWCA, and other groups, including first Ph.D.s Helen Magill (Boston University, 1877) and Millicent Shinn, (UCB, 1898). These networks were critical in supporting individual women, who encountered resistance to their presence, and when present, were not always recorded. In terms of the history of the developing research university in the US they are invisible, although 229 women are documented receiving Ph.D.s by 1900. Margaret Rossiter argues the number is likely closer to 400 for those who completed doctoral work, but did not always earn a degree. Marginalization is sustained in the historiography of US universities in which women are invisible, as they mostly are in the histories of the University of California Berkeley. Even as numbers of women doctoral students grew to the 1940s, the impact of their presence and their contribution is not recorded. These are the women who worked on their professors’ research, staffed research stations, contributed their acumen and own research making their professors and institutions reputation shine.

December 6, 2024. Juggling Roles and Achieving Goals: The California Student Parents Almanac. David Radwin (Senior Researcher, California Competes). 

June 6. 2024. Educated in Luxury: Student Housing Industry in the Era of the Neoliberal Globalization of Higher Education. Shanshan Jiang-Brittan

May 2. 2024. Elite, Commercialized Athletics in Higher Education: Historica and Contemporary Issues of the Uniquely American Phenomenon . Kirsten Hextrum, Patrick Mazzocco & Rachel Roberson

April 4. 2024. Meaningfulness in Higher Education: Beyond Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Academic Motivation. Shiva Shafaei (PhD candidate, University of Otago)

March 6. 2024. No one knows the ‘right language’, we are all constantly talking about it” Language work and social justice at UC Berkeley. Lærke Cecilie Anbert (PhD candidate, Aarhus University, Denmark)

February 1. 2024. Academic freedom, impacts of universities on students’ and societies’ values. William Kidder &  Kerry Shepard

July 7, 2023, Global Liberal Arts and New Institutions for 21st Century Higher Education

The recording for this talk is here

April 7, 2023, Pending Decisions on Affirmative Action

UCR School of Education Professor Uma Jayakumar(link is external) and William (Bill) Kidder, J.D. UCR Compliance & Civil Rights Investigator, discussed the pending supreme court decisions on Affirmative Action.

The two speakers led the organizing of the American social science scholars brief in SFFA v. University of North Carolina(link is external).

March 2023:  Academic Freedom within the University of California

Robert Carlen May, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics, Emeritus, UC Davis, together with CSHE Affiliate George Blumenthal, CSHE Director and Chancellor Emeritus, UC Santa Cruz, led a discussion on academic freedom within the University of California.

February 2023: "To Enjoy Equal Privilege Therein: The effort to restore minority admissions at the University of California after the repeal of affirmative action" 

Next Meeting

Thursday, March 6, 1:30pm PST

Speaker: Rachel Spronken-Smith (Professor, University of Otago, NZ)

Topic: Exploring the Career Readiness of PhD Graduates

Abstract: In this presentation, Sproken-Smith will report on a comparative study of the career readiness of PhD graduates in New Zealand and US universities. The study, funded by a Fulbright Scholar Award, aimed to explore 1) whether PhD graduates had developed a holistic set of graduate attributes during their doctoral study, 2) the reflections of PhD graduates regarding support for career development, and 3) which employment sectors they were entering, their work happiness and which factors were influencing their happiness. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was
employed, with survey responses from 136 PhD graduates from three universities, and interviews with 21 graduates. Key findings will be presented, followed by discussion of an online course to improve PhD candidates’ preparation for career transitions. Although in early stages, the new course is proving to increase self-efficacy in career decision making.

Bio: Rachel Spronken-Smith is a Professor in Higher Education and Geography and is Deputy Dean of the Graduate Research School (GRS) at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Initially trained as a climatologist, she lectured in Geography at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch (1994-2003). She then completed a PGDip in Tertiary Teaching from Otago, which is when her research interests shifted into higher education. She moved to Otago in 2004, where she was an academic developer and head of Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC) (2009-2012). She was the inaugural Dean of Otago’s Graduate Research School from 2012-2022, before moving back to HEDC briefly in 2022-24. She returned to GRS in late 2024. Rachel’s current research interests are in doctoral education, career preparedness and doctoral outcomes. She has won several university teaching awards and a national tertiary teaching award in 2015. In 2016 she won the TERNZ-HERDSA medal for Sustained Contribution to the Research Environment in NZ and was a Fulbright Scholar in 2018. 

Videos

Immigrant Age-at-Arrival, Social Capital, and College Enrollment

Student Learning and Wellbeing during the Pandemic: Evidence from the SERU COVID-19 Survey

COVID-19 Impacts on Early Career Trajectories and Mobility of Doctoral Graduates in Aotearoa, NZ

Asymmetric Expectations: Faculty Research Roles Under California’s Master Plan for Higher Education

Get Ready: Introducing the Millions of Adults Planning to Enroll in College

Higher Education Researchers Workgroup: Academic Freedom

Writing the History of the University from the Perspective of Graduate Women, 1870-1919