EAHR Representatives Present At ASHE Conference

A group of EAHR faculty and students spoke at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2016 conference held November 11-12 in Columbus, OH.

“I think it was a very good representation for the department by both faculty and students and we are thankful to them for being our ambassadors,” said EAHR Department Head Dr. Fred Nafukho.

Dr. Luis Ponjuan and Susana Hernandez presented a talk titled “Similar yet Different: The Educational Experiences of Latino Male Students at a Texas PWI, HSI, and HBCU.” Given the growing attention on Latino male students’ enrollment and degree completion rates. Specifically, they explored Latino male students’ college transitions and academic experiences at a Texas, four-year PWI, HSI, and HBCU.

Dr. Ponjuan co-chaired an interactive symposium called “Re-Conceptualizing the Latino Male Higher Education Research Agenda: A Focus on Emerging Scholarly Perspectives.” This symposium spotlighted the innovative scholarly work of several Project MALES Faculty/Research Affiliates. The Faculty/Research Affiliate program aims to raise the visibility of our affiliates’ research on young males of color by amplifying their work to a growing national network of practitioners and administrators.

Dr. Ponjuan and Leticia Palomin gave a roundtable presentation on “Texas Community College Presidents’ perceptions of their institutions’ commitment to male students of color degree completion.”

Dr. Vicente Lechuga with Tearney Woodruff gave a research presentation a talk titled “Adapting to College Life After Military Service: A Self-Determination Perspective.” This paper provided insight regarding the ways in which student veterans learn to adapt to their college environment from a motivation perspective. They focused on how student veterans learn to adapt to their new environment while focusing on the development of intrinsic motivation.

Dr. Haynes Davison, with two University of Northern Colorado colleagues, presented a research paper, “Constructions of Black Women’s Intellect: Exploring the Experiences of Black Undergraduate Women at Community Colleges.”

Dr. Haynes Davison also presented a paper titled “Racial Consciousness’ Influence on the Behaviors of White Faculty in the Classroom: A Substantive Theory.” This constructivist grounded theory study explored the role White faculty believe they play in the dismantling of the white supremacy embedded in their classrooms. It was the first paper of its kind to utilize critical legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw’s restrictive and expansive views of equality framework to measure excellence in college teaching.

Dr. Glenda Musoba and Caroline Wekullo presented a poster titled “Outsourcing in Higher Education: The Known and unknown about the practice.” Using literature, they examined the theoretical frameworks underlying the practice of outsourcing in higher education, to establish what is known and unknown and whether the practice of outsourcing is effective in providing the public good.

Dr. Musoba also began her term as secretary for the Council on Public Policy in Higher Education, and Paul York represented our program at the preconference for graduate students interested in research in public policy.