If you are interested in potentially pursuing a graduate degree, I would encourage you to review my published research for sense of the kind of work in which my students and I engage. Most of my research work focuses on the ways institutional processes, practices, discourses, and procedures create challenges for marginalized and underrepresented groups in higher education. I am a qualitative methodologist, focusing on ethnographic and discourse methods of data collection and analysis. My primary methods of data collection and analysis are Institutional Ethnography and Critical Discourse Analysis. I have also worked in action research, survey design and netnography. My areas of research include Women in Higher Education, STEM in Higher Education, Critical Pedagogy, Curriculum Design, Institutional Structure of Higher Education, and International Higher Education. I typically only agree to work with students whose interests are in those areas.
Graduate assistantships are available on a limited and competitive basis. I work to find funded positions for all students who I advise, but cannot guarantee funding. My typical expectation of incoming graduate students with whom I will work is that they will attend full-time (two to three classes per semester) and will engage in ongoing research work outside of class. When I take on a student, my commitment is to help them achieve their professional goals. However, I’m best able to do that when those professional goals are related to research and/or professorial career paths. To that end, I co-author research publications with students, propose and conduct conference presentations with students, help students get experience with peer review processes, and direct students in gaining teaching experience.
If you are considering graduate study in the area of higher education and are interested in working with me, I strongly encourage you to contact me to discuss the program and opportunities further.
Laura Parson, PhD 