Our Mission and Vision
The Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) is one of the nation’s first research centers established specifically to study postsecondary education policy issues. Since the founding of CSHE in 1969, faculty members have engaged in research that has informed policy and decision-making at the institutional, state, and national level. In 2022, CSHE restructured to become an interdisciplinary center with a mission to conduct anti-oppressive research and partnerships that offer insight into and solutions for complex racial, social, economic, political, and legal issues in postsecondary education. CSHE faculty research associates and graduate assistants are especially concerned with dismantling the global, intersecting systems of oppression that contribute to racial inequality in postsecondary education.
Leveraging our research, we catalyze effective outreach, training, and partnerships with institutional leaders, policymakers, students, and other constituents to remediate and dismantle oppressive logics, policies, and practices.
Our vision is to radically transform the ways in which college and universities operate in service of racial and social equity.
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Director
Alicia C. Dowd
(814)-865-9739
Associate Director
LaWanda W.M. Ward
(814)-863-3774