As higher education researchers, we bear a responsibility to tend to the current state of our research and to the outlook for its future in light of its various purposes, the politics that inform these purposes, and the practices they expose. In the ASHE 2023 Presidential Address, Dr. Ana M. Martínez-Alemán asks us to reflect on and consider--as…

Misinterpretations and caricatures of Critical Race Theory (CRT) abound in popular media and in higher education scholarship. Given the confusion surrounding what CRT is and is not, I write this conceptual essay as an invitation to engage seriously with CRT's legal foundations. I offer four guideposts to aid scholars in engaging the legal roots of…

In the 2021 Presidential Address, I argued that critical scholarship in higher education unsettled the demarcation between the street and the ivory tower and spans the gulf between theorizing and policy. I portrayed critical scholarship both as an insertion which disrupts bodies, stories, and refusals, as well as sitting uneasily on the fulcrum of…

Using an international research center initiative, the purpose of this article is to illustrate how activist research can be fertile ground for academic theorization and provide a framework for those interested in activist scholarship, especially for women faculty of Latin American origins in U.S. institutions. I elaborate on how activist…

The palpable dissatisfaction and concerns of students, staff, and faculty--often in the form of protests and demonstrations--continue to challenge contemporary college and university campuses. Practical considerations notwithstanding, what remains are questions regarding how higher education scholars can align their research with broader…

In this article, taken from the 2019 ASHE Presidential address, Kristen A. Renn argues that to stay relevant and also to influence the direction of postsecondary education, there must be engagement in the will to reimagine the study of higher education. She discusses the challenges and opportunities for the future bound up in the fact that higher…

This critical literature review investigates how "diversity" and "equity" are employed in top-cited higher education scholarship published between 2000 and 2015. No analysis to date has offered such a comparative exploration relative to well-recognized racial disparities in higher education. Findings reveal a divergence with…

Grounded in the conceptual framing of "educative value" of relationships by Ana Martínez Alemán (1997), this qualitative study examines the role of relationships in women scholars' intellectual trajectories. Based on in-depth interviews with 34 scholars across multiple identities, disciplines, institutions, ranks, and appointment types,…

Critical Race Theory (CRT) from its inception was not intended to be a theoretical framework, but rather a theorizing counterspace for scholars of color to challenge and transform racial oppression. Despite this context, the author demonstrates through a critical literature review that CRT is generally applied as a theoretical framework in higher…

Through analysis of student interviews and program staff interviews, this project explores how one program was crafted to help Students of Color develop competencies for educational success, gain exposure to undergraduate research, and maintain their cultural identities as part of their scholarly pursuits. Findings revealed that intentional…

We examine the American landscape of higher education quantitative research concerning how gender and sex demographic information is collected. We use a directed content analysis to examine the prevalence and operationalization of gender and sex among widely used higher education survey instruments. Our findings illuminate a seemingly haphazard…

Community-engaged scholarship (CES) is frequently recommended as a postsecondary practice for producing knowledge to address real-world issues and support the public good. But CES has multiple meanings, and understandings overlap with similar terms, such as publicly engaged scholarship. I draw upon recommendations in the field to propose an…

Predominantly white institutions (PWIs) have increasingly implemented formalized diversity initiatives over the past 50 years as a response to ensuing federal legislation (e.g., 1965 Higher Education Act), student protests of the late 1960s, and the influx of Black students into PWIs. These initiatives were established to support students from…

This article examines the continuing gap between institutional practice and pedagogy, research and scholarship, and policy formation and analysis of equity and diversity in higher education. The article also provides brief summaries of the four major contributions of higher education scholars to this edition concerned with exploring different…

This paper examines how faculty and institutional characteristics shape engaged scholarship. Controlling for faculty dispositions, disciplinary differences, and institutional characteristics, the authors examined the impact of perceived institutional support for community partnerships, community-based research, and teaching on faculty engagement.…