A Distinctive Higher Education Program

Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education: Dr. Gary Rhoades.

Established in 1977, the Center for the Study of Higher Education offers flexible, interdisciplinary, and individualized master of arts and doctor of philosophy degree programs with concentrations in comparative higher education, organization and administration, college access, and student affairs.

The Center's Faculty

• Dr. Lydia Bell, Assistant Professor of Practice
• Dr. Nolan Cabrera, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Regina Deil-Amen, Associate Professor
• Dr. Ozan Jaquette, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Keith Humphrey, Assistant Professor of Practice
• Dr. Amanda Kraus, Assistant Professor of Practice
• Dr. Jenny Lee, Associate Professor
• Dr. Jeffrey Milem, Ernest W. McFarland Distinguished Professor
• Dr. Gary Rhoades, Professor and Center Director

The Center's work is distinguished by:

• A commitment not just to improving practice, but also to educational changes that enhance the realization of social justice in higher education.
• A consideration of how developments in the political economy shape and are expressed in the restructuring of higher education settings, professions, and practices.
• An exploration of the international/global dimensions, issues, and agencies related to higher education, with particular attention devoted to the Americas.

These distinctive characteristics go beyond individual faculty; they reflect a collective synergy and orientation of our faculty to scholarship and practice.

A Diverse, Supportive, Challenging Intellectual Community

Each year we admit around ten (10) Ph.D. students and twenty (20) M.A. students. The life experience and perspectives of the 90-100 students enrolled here flavor our program. A high proportion of our students are accomplished professionals and we value the practical experience and organizational skills they bring.

Ours is a diverse, supportive, challenging intellectual community. Over half of our students are women, over 20 percent are students of color, and over 10 percent are international students. Many are first generation students. This diversity enriches our community and work.

In recognition for its commitment to diversity and inclusiveness, the Center for the Study of Higher Ed has been honored with the Peter W. Likins Inclusive Excellence Award in 2010.

Faculty at the Center help foster a culture of research

We are supportive of each others' work and that of our students. Most of our students work, yet are fully engaged intellectually in a program that emphasizes a culture of research and reflective practice. Our aim is to bring theories and findings from the academic literature to bear on professional practice in ways that enhance students' abilities to understand, analyze, and act within postsecondary organizations and systems. We seek students who are deeply committed to the advancement and improvement of higher education as students, practitioners, scholars, and activists.

Most of our students advance into positions in various support professions and administration, but some also pursue faculty positions. Although most obtain positions on college and university campuses, we have also placed students in systemwide administration, policy agencies such as WICHE, and in private enterprise.

An important contributor to our intellectual community is the Higher Education Student Organization (HESO). It sponsors formal and informal annual functions and activities that are academic, professional, and social in nature and that address student needs as well as bring students and faculty together for supportive exchange.

In the News!

Read Ozan Jaquette's latest report: Out of State College Enrollment Crowds Out Poor and Minority Students.

The report is out!  Drs. Gary Rhoades & Jenny Lee co-edited the AZ Town Hall Report: Is Higher Education Ready for Arizona's Future?  Contributing authors among the faculty include Dr. Jeffrey Milem and the following graduate students: Blanca Torres, W. Patrick Bryan, Diana Sesate and Stephanie Montano.  The report will be discussed at the 102nd Arizona Town Hall, April 21-24, 2013.  More information on the Town Hall can be found here.

Dr. Jeffrey Milem received the 2013 American College Personnel Association's Contribution to Higher Education Award. The Contribution to Higher Education Award recognizes an individual who has advanced a higher education agenda through work at the institutional, regional, and/or national level. The recipient of this award is an individual who, working outside the association, has contributed to the Higher Education landscape and has, in a meaningful way, enhanced the work done on college campuses and/or with college students.

Dr. Amanda Kraus has co-authored a chapter in Called to Serve: A Handbook on Student Veterans in Higher Education, published by Jossey-Bass.  The chapter is entitled: Understanding Disability in the Student Veteran Community.

Dr. Nolan Cabrera has earned the distinction of Erasmus Circle Fellow in recognition of the quality of his scholarship and involvement in applying his work to professional practice. The Erasmus Circle, named for the Renaissance scholar whose work in education changed humanity, is a society that provides significant unrestricted financial support for the college to advance the initiatives of the dean in scholarship, teaching and research.

Dr. Jenny Lee was selected for the 2013-2014 US Fulbright Scholar Grant to South Africa.  She will to extend her research on international student mobility, particularly examining access and flows within Subsahara Africa to South Africa as a major regional hub. She hopes to build networks between the department and South African universities for future collaboration and exchange.

Read the report to the special master of the federal court on the TUSD MAS program, authored by College Dean Ron Marx, Jeffrey Milem and Nolan Cabrera.

Dr. Jenny Lee  was recently featured in the Septmeber 16th Inside Higher Ed article, "I'm Racist, But" by Elizabeth Redden.

Dr. Cabrera was selected as a 2012 Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE).

Dr. Jeffrey Milem co-develops amicus brief for U.S. Supreme Court.  Watch his interview with the local news station, KGUN 9.

Dr. Jeffrey Milem was also recently featured in ColorLines, News for Action, "How Diversity Trumped Equity - and May Kill Affirmative Action."

Dr. Francisco Marmolejo resigns as Executive Director of the Consortium of North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) to take on a leadership role with the World Bank Institute. 

GETTING CONNECTED! Harnessing the Power of Social Media Technology to Enhance Community College Student Success with co-PIs Dr. Regina Deil Amen (University of Arizona) and Dr.Cecilia Rios-Aguilar (Claremont Graduate University).

Visit the January 5th issue of Diverse Issues in Higher Education where our colleague,Dr. Jenny Lee, is recognized as one of 12 emerging scholars in the field of higher education.

Student Spotlight!

Chris Nelson, PhD student in Higher Education, was successfully nominated for the Arizona Board of Research Graduate Research Grant.

Whitney Mohr, MA student in Higher Education, has won the Centennial Achievement Award.

Degrees & Programs

For more information, visit our page through the Graduate College.

For Current Students: