Northwestern University's MS in Higher Education Administration and Policy program Director and Assistant Director attended the 2015 annual Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference. ASHE is one of the major national conferences for research on higher education and was held in Denver, Colorado, from November 4 to 7.
MSHE Director Lois Trautvetter, PhD, co-presented with colleagues--Linda Sax, UCLA; Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University; and Xuelli Wang, University of Wisconsin--in a symposium titled A World Café on the Nuanced Experiences of Women Across STEM. Trautvetter stated, "We briefly shared our respective findings from our own research and then had the audience focus on the theoretical and methodological considerations of disciplinary differences and intersectionality in their own research. I presented on some of my recent research on institutional cultures, policies, and practices that help recruit and retain female engineering undergraduates." Trautvetter also participated in the Council for the Advancement of Higher Education Programs (CAHEP) preconference business meeting with program chairs from across the country.
MSHE Assistant Director Kristin McCann, PhD, presented original research on social justice curriculum in higher education master's programs and co-presented with colleague Dr. Bridget Turner Kelly on select findings from Kelly's ten-year longitudinal study on tenure track women faculty. According to McCann, “My work is framed by the goal of creating and supporting more equitable institutions for underrepresented and underserved populations. ASHE is an ideal venue to share and learn from emerging research on these and other pressing topics in the field from scholars across the country and internationally.”
Trautvetter and McCann also had the opportunity to reconnect with MSHE alumni who were also attending the conference or living in the Denver area including Darkhan Bilyalov (MS10), Kara Godwin (MS05), Jandi Kelly (MS13), Rebecca Komarek (MS10) and Nick Royal (MS15). Next year’s ASHE conference will be held in Columbus, Ohio.