Are you passionate about improving college access and success for first-generation and low-income students? Would you like to be part of a close-knit team, using rigorous and innovative research methods to catalyze real-life innovations in education? Come work as a postdoctoral scholar at the Pullias Center for Higher Education, one of the world’s leading research centers on higher education with one-of-a-kind […]
Ten years ago, Carlos Galan was a 17-year-old at Belmont High School, struggling to learn English after moving from El Salvador to the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. This fall, Galan will be a PhD candidate in higher education administration and policy at University of California, Riverside. Much of his education success, Galan says, is thanks to a mentor. […]
A new paper illustrates the benefits of a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative tools. Abstract | Full article HTML | Full article PDF Higher education research often gets divided into two categories: qualitative research that relies on more subjective methods like interviews and focus groups, and the numbers-based quantitative research that relies on surveys and measurable records. Combining the two methods still […]
A study finds graduate admissions committees favor students linked to well-known schools and scholars. Abstract | Full article HTML | Full article PDF How can you get into a top graduate school program? Good grades and GRE scores help, but the prestige of your recommenders or undergraduate institution might end up being the ultimate clincher. So finds Julie Posselt, a Pullias Center researcher and assistant […]
The Pullias Lecture series, which brings a national leader in higher education to speak at USC each year, has been going strong since 1979. It’s brought to campus many university presidents and chancellors, leaders of major foundations, and even a former United States Secretary of Education. Now, 40 years later, the story of the lecture’s beginnings has been captured in […]
A timely report about community college funding co-written by Pullias faculty member Tatiana Melguizo received coverage in Inside Higher Ed on June 15, 2018: California’s move toward performance funding for its community colleges could work without harming colleges that enroll large numbers of underserved student groups, according to a new report published Thursday by the Century Foundation, but only if the formula adequately takes into […]
Pullias faculty member Julie Posselt received yet another rave review for her book, Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Admissions, and Faculty Gatekeeping (Harvard University Press, 2016). Just published in the Spring 2018 issue of Contexts, a quarterly magazine of cutting-edge social research, the review by Northwestern University’s Lauren A. Rivera calls Inside Graduate Admissions “an enthralling read”: Inside Graduate Admissions is […]
Should community colleges with higher graduation rates get rewarded with more state funding? Or would such a plan unfairly hurt schools that serve large populations of disadvantaged students? How can we balance efficiency — moving students speedily and successfully through their education goals — with equity — making sure all students are given the support they need to succeed in […]
California’s lawmakers reached an agreement on education funding last Friday, and a key part of the deal is a plan to tie the state funding community colleges receive to measures of student success. In this op-ed, Pullias research assistant James Dean Ward and Pullias co-director William G. Tierney make an urgent argument against the funding changes. ___ In his State […]