21st Century Scholar

From the beginning, I was really thankful for the opportunity to represent my institution.   And then this happened:   And we can’t forget this:     “Tweet-ups” were wonderful:   Meeting with mentors was certainly illuminating:   Live tweeting was one of the biggest highlights, especially during the phenomenal presidential session given by my [...]

What can I honestly say about AERA 2013? This was a serious inquiry as I looked to my notepad from sessions and realized that for the first time I had relatively few notes on paper from a conference.  As I scrolled through my tweets I realized I highly enjoyed the conference through Twitter while still [...]

As I approached this May 7 blog post I was all set to write about AERA 2013, a phenomenal career-changing experience. I left San Francisco feeling refreshed in my purpose as an emerging scholar in the field of postsecondary education. But shortly after I returned home I was reminded by another unfortunate incident of my [...]

In one of my previous posts titled Not “Profiting from People’s Pain”: Remembering the Transformational Role of Education Researchers, I discuss the importance of engaging in work that helps others rather than that which only exists to benefit our own careers. While the upcoming annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association presents a great [...]

So I opened up on my twitter account with a concern I have had as of late: I became more intrigued by poverty portrayals and the allure of “struggle stories” as the song Started from the Bottom by Drake become more popular. I done kept it real from the jump Living at my mama’s house [...]

I have been blessed to meet countless colleagues in graduate school across many academic disciplines. This network has provided me with a lot of inspiration and insight into the sometimes daunting process of graduate school. The more I listen to my colleagues, the more graduate school begins to sound like a relationship partner rather than [...]

For-profit colleges and universities, whether we find them to be friend or foe, are now deeply woven into the fabric of U.S. higher education and society overall. As the 2013 American Educational Research Association Conference in San Francisco draws near, I am particularly excited about sessions that explore for-profit higher education and the changing nature [...]

The truth is, the spaces and occupations we belong to can hurt us. Such a notion is no stranger to any profession, much less to anyone working in academe. Yet I wonder why pain and healing seem to be almost taboo topics in this arena. Perhaps because the nature of our work is almost machine-like, [...]

A growing amount of the discourse on bolstering the U.S. workforce has emphasized how higher education can facilitate such growth. Particular emphasis has been paid to vocationally-oriented institutions of postsecondary education and if they are doing a suitable job in preparing students and getting them jobs. My own research agenda now centers on providing an [...]

My administration will release a new “College Scorecard” that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria—where you can get the most bang for your educational buck. –President Obama, 2013 State of the Union About the Scorecard Indeed higher education is buzzing about the new White House College Scorecard officially [...]