2025 ASHE Conference

Type: Works in Progress Session

Authors: Yiwen Ai, Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, and Raina Dyer-Barr

Time: Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 8:30 to 9:45am MST (10:30 to 11:45am EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Court 2

Description: This study offers a dual-perspective qualitative research of international credential evaluation as an underexamined barrier in U.S. community colleges. Using phenomenology and Yosso’s (2005) framework, it centers student and practitioner voices to reveal how opaque evaluation processes impact equity, offering new insight for justice-oriented, culturally responsive institutional reform.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Denisa Gándara (University of Texas at Austin) Mallory Lineberger (University of Texas at Austin), Rosa Maria Acevedo (University of Pittsburgh), Elizabeth Octavina Aritonang (University of Texas at Austin), Victoria Kim (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Time: Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 9 to 10:30am MST (11:00am to 12:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Ballroom A

Individual Presentation Title: “Our Identity Isn’t Neutral:” Ethnoracially Minoritized Researchers’ Experiences with a Research-Policy Intermediary

Description: Through interviews with 39 ethnoracially minoritized researchers, we examine how these scholars experience their engagement with an intermediary linking researchers to congressional staff. We explore their motivations, challenges, and strategies in connecting their research to policymaking, illuminating how racial identity and its interaction with a policy-focused intermediary shape their boundary-spanning work.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Brett Ramon Nachman (University of Pittsburgh), Jonathan T. Pryor (California State University, Fresno), and Devin Johannis (University of Pittsburgh)

Time: Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 9:45 to 11am MST (11:45am to 1:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 12

Description: Our study, drawing from hermeneutic phenomenology and case study, explores how HESA graduate programs constituents develop and model disability justice. Interviews with HESA program directors, faculty, and recent alumni have unveiled how lived experiences with disability and co-curricular, disability-centered experiences, among other components, shape promoting a disability justice mindset.

Type: Works in Progress Session

Authors: Charlie Diaz, Crystal Couch, Keanna Cash, Gerard Dorve-Lewis, and Jorden King

Time: Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 2:30 to 3:45pm MST (4:30 to 5:45pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 12

Individual Presentation Title: Counterspace as Method, Story as Resistance: A Critical Race Approach to Understanding the Experiences of Doctoral Students of Color

Description: We investigate the role of academic counterspaces as a path towards resistance and community in academia. Using critical race methodologies, we examine our experiences as four doctoral Students of Color forming an academic counter space to write and publish work to address current socio-political landscapes.

Type: Paper Session

Chair: Raina Dyer-Barr

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 12:15 to 1:30pm MST (2:15 to 3:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 10

Type: Featured Session

Presenters: Heather Nicole McCambly (University of Pittsburgh), Wendy Sedlak (Lumina Foundation), Nicholas Hillman (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Ann Person (Mathematica Policy Research)

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 12:15 to 1:30pm MST (2:15 to 3:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Ballroom D

Description:

Research plays a critical role in philanthropy by ensuring that resources are directed appropriately and lead to impact. In this session, Lumina and ECMC Foundations will share how research has informed their grantmaking and strategic priorities and researchers will discuss their work with foundations and where they see future collaborations.

This session is organized by ECMC Foundation.

Type: Paper Session

Chair: Blayne D. Stone

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 12:15 to 1:30pm MST (2:15 to 3:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower D

Type: Presidential Session

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 12:15 to 1:30pm MST (2:15 to 3:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower D

Moderator: Heather J. Shotton (Fort Lewis College)

Presenters: Valerie Kinloch (Johnson C. Smith University and former Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education), Marielena DeSanctis (Community College of Denver), Scott L. Thomas (Sterling College), and J. Luke Wood (Sacramento State University)

Description:

In an era of political polarization and public skepticism, college and university presidents face mounting challenges. This session explores how institutional leaders navigate crisis with conviction—defending higher education’s value while driving transformational change. Panelists share insights on advocacy, accountability, and advancing equity amidst evolving social, economic, and policy landscapes.

Thank you for to Lumina Foundation for their sponsorship of this event.

Type: Paper Session

Discussant: Brett Ranon Nachman

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (3:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower B

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Heather Nicole McCambly, Crystal Couch

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (2:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 16

Session Title: The Politics of the Purse: Resource Control, Equity, and Resistance in Higher Education

Description:

We employ an (e)quality politics framework to analyze the Trump Administration’s attack on federal grantmaking infrastructure and the response and/or resistance from targeted institutions and advocates. We aim to investigate the resistance racialized ideology of these political moves but to surface political and practical insights for organized resistance.

Type: Paper Session

Discussant: Raina Dyer-Barr

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (3:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 17

Type: Paper Session

Chair: Baili Park

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (3:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower C

Type: Self-Designed Paper Session

Authors: Gabriela Perez (University of California, Davis), Marcela G. Cuellar (University of California, Davis), and Esteban Alcalá Aguirre (University of Pittsburgh)

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (2:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 10

Session Title: Complicating, Advancing, and Reimagining Scholarship with Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Insights from the HSI Research Colectiva

Description:

As the number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) increases nationally, so does the need for rigorous, equity-centered research to guide institutional efforts. However, little attention has been placed in understanding knowledge production in this area of study. Faculty often face structural challenges producing research (Schrodt et al., 2003; Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006), including at HSIs (Gonzales, 2015a; 2015b). HSI faculty and researchers are well-positioned to uncover “knowledges that have long been silenced” in higher education (Gonzales, 2015a, p. 29). As such, this study investigates the barriers faculty encounter in producing HSI-focused research and the support needed to sustain impactful scholarship.

We interviewed 20 faculty members who presented on HSI-related research at conferences between 2021 and 2024 in various fields (e.g. Education, Psychology, Sociology). Participants represented diverse regions, faculty ranks, and 13 worked at a HSI. The interview protocol addressed their journeys to the professoriate, their HSI research, and their visions for the future of the field. Interviews, conducted via Zoom in fall 2024, lasted 60 to 90 minutes and were transcribed for analysis. We inductively coded transcripts and incorporated a critical neoinstitutionalism lens to account for how institutional norms and practices impacted the experiences of faculty who are producing HSI-related research.

Preliminary themes highlight the lack of financial resources and limited professional development support to advance HSI scholarship. Gilbert (non-HSI) describes the lack of research funding at his university. He shared, “I get $300 a year to do anything. Conference, travel, research, anything, $300 bucks. It’s an R1.” Another faculty at a HSI, Carmen, describes the lack of support for tenure and promotion. She said, “We have nothing like that for any faculty. You’re on your own. I created my own affinity group for women faculty of color to meet and work through RTP.” These findings offer a nuanced understanding of the structural barriers faculty face when advancing HSI research. Without addressing these inequities, institutions risk limiting the production of high-quality, equity-focused research critical for informing policies and practices that better serve Latinx/e students and communities.

Type: Self-Designed Paper Session

Authors: Marialexia Zaragoza

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (2:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 10

Session Title: Complicating, Advancing, and Reimagining Scholarship with Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Insights from the HSI Research Colectiva

Description:

High-impact practices (HIPs) have been widely implemented across institutions of higher education to increase student retention and engagement. More importantly, HIPs have been shown to positively impact all students, such as earning higher grades and higher engagement, with especially strong outcomes for racially minoritized and low-income students (Finley & McNair, 2013). However, less research has explored how HIPs contribute to Latine students’ non-academic outcomes, or what Garcia (2021) names liberatory outcomes.

Grounded in the transforming HSIs framework (Garcia, 2023), community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), and liberatory education literature, and using case study methodology, this study explores HIP implementation and perceived outcomes at one four-year HSI. Guided by the following research questions, “What are the perceived liberatory experiences and outcomes of Latine students who participate in HIPs at a four-year HSI?” and “How do faculty and staff offer liberatory experiences and enhance liberatory outcomes within HIPs structures at a four-year HSI?” 11 interviews were conducted and analyzed. Through interviews with students, staff, and faculty, preliminary findings suggest that students are developing liberatory outcomes, including a desire to give back to their communities. For example, Celeste, an undocumented Latine student who participated in service learning, credits her experience in this HIP for fostering a commitment to her community, stating,

“When people asked me what I wanted my career to be, I was like, I don’t know, but I know I want to do something that is going to be impactful. I know I want to do something that is going to help the community, help people. And so service learning really gave me an insight of things, this is probably something I want to do, and to eventually possibly get to the point where I can teach it to other people.”

Along with a desire to give back, students also develop (2) aspirations for the future; (3) ethno-racial identity; and (4) critical consciousness. Additionally, staff and faculty enhance liberatory outcomes within HIPs through (1) culturally affirming spaces (2) connecting students with communities and (3) creating critical yet safe learning environments. The full paper will expand on these findings and extend the guiding theories.

Type: Works in Progress Session

Chair: Gerard Dorve-Lewis

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 1:50 to 3:05pm MST (3:50 to 5:05pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Court 3

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Eric Trevor McChesney (University of Pittsburgh), Christian Dieter Schunn (University of Pittsburgh), Gerard Dorve-Lewis (University of Pittsburgh), Allison Godwin, Cornell University, Linda DeAngelo (University of Pittsburgh)

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 3:25 to 4:40pm MST (5:25 to 6:40pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower A

Session Title: Interrogating Assumptions in Student Learning and Development

Description:

This study contributes to the development of “innovative pedagogical strategies…[and] learning theory” by examining the structure of learning engagement in undergraduate STEM courses (ASHE, 2025). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are conducted on 3 STEM courses. Findings have implications for learning engagement theory and pedagogical design.

Type: Plenary Session

Time: Thursday, Nov. 13 from 7:30 to 9:30pm MST (9:30 to 11:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Ballroom F

Description:

Join us for the ASHE 50th Anniversary Celebration—a special reception honoring five decades of scholarly community. Enjoy light refreshments, connect with colleagues past and present, and raise a toast to ASHE’s rich history and bright future. Wear something gold to help us shine in our golden anniversary!

Sponsored by: Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; the University of Pittsburgh School of Education; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; and Central Michigan University, University Engagement and Student Affairs.

Type: Works in Progress Session

Chair: Rosa Maria Acevedo

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 8:45 to 10:00am MST (10:45am to 12:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Court 5

Type: Paper Session

Discussant: Heather Nicole McCambly

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 8:45 to 10:00am MST (10:45am to 12:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 16

Type: Keynote Address

Presenters: Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh)

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 10:20 to 11:20am MST (12:20 to 1:20pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Ballroom E

Description:

In this address, President Zamani-Gallaher challenges us to consider it is not just about observing the arc of progress; it’s about recognizing the architects behind it—the imaginative individuals and institutions that build, resist, and reimagine our educational landscape in the pursuit of justice. Underscoring creative work as a legitimate academic contribution, she asserts is an effective form of public pedagogy and scholarship. Zamani-Gallaher calls us to envision the next bend in the journey of higher education, inspired by the diverse voices and innovative approaches that challenge the status quo.

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Education

Type: Paper Session

Discussant: Eric Trevor McChesney

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 12:35 to 1:50pm MST (2:35 to 3:50pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower B

Type: Works in Progress Session

Chair: Najeeb Shafiq

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 2:10 to 3:25pm MST (4:10 to 5:25pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Court 4

Type: Interactive Symposium

Presenters: Caleb Austin Sewell (University of Pittsburgh), Antar A Tichavakunda (University of California, Santa Barbara), Holly Graham (The Pennsylvania State University)

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 2:10 to 3:25pm MST (4:10 to 5:25pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Lobby Level, Directors Row H

Description:

This symposium aims to outline deep reading and grapple with it as a curricular practice that can ethically advance collaborative intellectual praxis, or interdisciplinary research, teaching, and study in educative and cultural spaces.

Type: ASHE Meeting/Reception

Presenters: Erin Monique Satterwhite-David (Association for the Study of Higher Education), Jayla Moody Marshall (North Carolina State University), Natasha N Croom (Clemson University), Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh), Tomika Ferguson (Virginia Commonwealth University)

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 3:45 to 5:00pm MST (5:45 to 7:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 15

Description:

Celebrate the launch of the Black Womyn’s Collective. This interest meeting is a space for powerful connection, purposeful networking, and visionary conversation amongst Black Womyn in ASHE. Together, we’ll honor our past, embrace our present, and co-create the future of this collective. This event is open to any current ASHE members who identify as a Black Womyn.

Type: Presidential Session

Organizers: Sergio A Gonzalez (University of Pittsburgh), and Susana M. Muñoz (Colorado State University)

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 3:45 to 5:00pm MST (5:45 to 7:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Windows

Description:

Motus Theater presents Immigrant America Monologues, featuring artfully crafted autobiographical personal stories from immigrants with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), sharing about their journeys into this country, their dreams, and the impact that education has had on their lives. The monologues are underscored by beloved Colorado violinist Anthony Salvo.

This session is organized by the ASHE 2025 Local and Community Engagement Committee.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Baili Park

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 3:45 to 5:00pm MST (5:45 to 7:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Court 6

Session Title: Addressing Inequalities in STEM

Description:

This qualitative study examines how postdocs experience informational justice during the hiring process and how perceptions shape their transitions and experience as postdocs. Based on interviews with 22 international STEM postdocs, we identify patterns of inequities regarding information and ways to improve support and broaden participation for international scholars.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Blayne D. Stone (University of Pittsburgh), Kenyon Lee Whitman (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 3:45 to 5:00pm MST (5:45 to 7:00pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower D

Session Title: Intersections among Race, Ethnicity and Family in Shaping College-Going Behavior

Description:

This hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study explores the college-going motivations of 31 Black students with foster care backgrounds. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and BlackCrit were used to identify the factors that motivated participants to pursue higher education. The findings, with practical implications, provide valuable insights into the experiences that shaped their pathways.

Type: Plenary Session

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 5:15 to 7:00pm MST (7:15 to 9:00pm EST)

Speakers: Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh), Raquel M. Rall (University of California, Riverside), Brian L. McGowan, American University, Emily VanZoest ( North Carolina State University), Eugene Theodore Parker (University of Kansas), Jarett D. Haley (University of Delaware), Sylvia Martinez (Indiana University), Chris Nelson (University of Denver), Chase J. Catalano (Virginia Tech), and Saralyn McKinnon-Crowley (Baylor University)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Plaza Ballroom E

Description:

Celebrate and recognize our colleagues for their dedication to the study of higher education. The ceremony will feature recognition of recipients of ASHE awards.

Type: Affiliate Reception

Time: Friday, Nov. 14 from 8:00 to 9:30pm MST (10:00 to 11:30pm EST)

Organizer: Raina Dyer-Barr and Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Windows

Description:

Join the University of Pittsburgh for a reception featuring the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), and the Center for Urban Education (CUE).

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Eric Trevor McChesney, Christian Dieter Schunn, Linda DeAngelo, and Erica McGreevy

Time: Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10:15 to 11:30am MST (12:15 to 1:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower B

Session Title: Equity, Engagement, and Value: Rethinking Learning, Advising, and the Liberal Education Experience

Description:

This study introduces an improved Affective-Behavioral-Cognitive (ABC) model of learning engagement. SEM on 655 students linked engagement components to academic performance. ABC+ model fit far surpassed ABC fit. Engagement factors differentiated by affect valance and activity space predict outcomes uniquely offering more precise student success tools for researchers, and educators.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Rosa Maria Acevedo (University of Pittsburgh), Denisa Gándara (University of Texas at Austin), Sosanya M. Jones (Howard University)

Time: Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10:15 to 11:30am MST (12:15 to 1:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 12

Session Title: Tension and Resolve: Confronting Paradigms of Conflict and Paradox in the Academic Workplace

Description:

This study explores how ethnoracially minoritized faculty navigate temporal tensions in policy engagement within academia. Drawing on 39 interviews, it examines the disjuncture between academic and policy timelines, highlighting how scholars experience, resist, and reshape time amid institutional demands, caregiving responsibilities, and structural inequities in the neoliberal university.

Type: Paper Session

Authors: Brett Ranon Nachman (University of Pittsburgh), Karly Ball Isaacson (Michigan State University), Brad Cox (Michigan State University), Yilun Jiang (Michigan State University), Rebecca Brower, Catherine Tobin McDermott, and Devin Johannis (University of Pittsburgh)

Time: Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10:15 to 11:30am MST (12:15 to 1:30pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Building, Concourse Level, Governors Square 17

Session Title: Resilient Paths: Navigating Disability, Belonging, and Policy in Higher Education

Description:

In pursuing college success, autistic college students are confronted with many issues that threaten their persistence. This phenomenological study of 79 autistic college students shows how, in understanding and managing autism-related challenges and leaning into academics, among adopting other strategies, they practice self-care and avoid burnout in ableist spaces.

Type: Paper & Performance, Visual, and Digital Scholarship Session

Authors: Charlie Diaz, Crystal Couch, Keanna Cash, Gerard Dorve-Lewis, and Jorden King

Time: Saturday, Nov. 15 from 12:30 to 1:45pm MST (2:30 to 3:45pm EST)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Tower D

Session Title: Joy, Kinship, and Resilience

Description:

In response to volatile sociopolitical times and isolation within white academia, graduate students of Color build an intergenerational community rooted in care and relationality. Students document their shared meals, conversations, and struggles, making visible quiet and loud ways graduate students of Color survive, resist, and reimagine their futures despite creeping fascism.

Type: Plenary Session

Time: Saturday, Nov. 15 from 3:30 to 5:00pm MST (5:30 to 7:00pm EST)

Presenters: Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh), Shawna Patterson-Stephens (Central Michigan University), and Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn (University of Oklahoma)

Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown, Tower Building, Second Level, Windows

Description:

Join us to learn about association updates from ASHE Executive Director Jason Guilbeau; a conference recap from conference leaders; a year-in-review from 2025 President Eboni Zamani-Gallaher; and plans for next year from 2026 President Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn (Kiowa, Apache, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Assiniboine).