Research
My interests involve the persistence and graduation rates of nontraditional students at two and four year public institutions.
The Problem
Public higher education institutions are slow at aggressively recruiting, counseling, assisting, and graduating nontraditional students. For profit institutions have long seen these students as an untapped resource and have engaged them with evening classes, student cohort groups, one-class-at-a-time curriculums, and more and more 100% online offerings. Public institutions are becoming aware that programs and services designed for the high school graduate traditional student does not address the needs of students who work full time, have families or other committments, are veterans, or have other life circumstances that interfere with a traditional college experience. My research involves creating a learning environment for higher education staff and faculty to acknowledge and address these issues.