Vision & Mission
The long-term vision for CSSR is to be a national leader in facilitating, conducting, and disseminating state of the art research on postsecondary access and success, leading to policies and practices that promote equity and lead to improved outcomes for underrepresented and understudied student populations.
The Center for Student Success Research (CSSR) facilitates research, evaluation, and organizational assessment aimed at promoting postsecondary access and success for underrepresented and understudied student populations. Social scientists associated with the CSSR utilize diverse methodological and theoretical perspectives to produce research identifying institutional and societal factors that limit or promote equitable pathways into and through higher education. Actionable findings and recommendations inform institutions, policymakers, and other change agents concerning ways to improve conditions for student success.
People
Center Leadership
Ryan Wells
Ryan Wells is Director of the Center for Student Success Research and associate professor of higher education. He primarily investigates questions of college access, equity, and success for underrepresented and/or under-researched groups. Topics for recent research include the ways that socioeconomic status, disability, and geographic location are related to college success. Learn more about Ryan.
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Ezekiel Kimball
Education
B.A. - University of Southern Maine (2005)
M.S. - University of Southern Maine (2008)
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Genia Bettencourt
Genia Bettencourt earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019. Her research interests include the college access, equity, and success of marginalized students within higher education, particularly focused on social class, race, gender, and ability. Genia has a background in student affairs and social justice education, with work experience in residential life, student leadership, and pre-college programs.
119N Furcolo Hall
813 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA, 01002
Research Affiliates
Jonique Childs
Jonique R. Childs is an assistant professor in the College of Education Student Development program. She has completed her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Iowa.
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Darrell Earnest
Darrell Earnest is an Assistant Professor in Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies (TECS) within the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research explores mathematical cognition in school contexts, with foci on learning and teaching as well as professional and curriculum development for elementary school and early childhood.
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Chrystal George Mwangi
Dr. George Mwangi is an assistant professor in higher education. Her scholarship broadly centers on 1) structures of opportunity and educational attainment for underrepresented populations along the P-20 education pipeline; 2) impacts of globalization and migration on U.S. higher education at the student, institution, and policy levels; and 3) African and African Diaspora populations in higher education.
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Alexandra Lauterbach
Dr. Alexandra A. Lauterbach’s scholarly interest centers on effective literacy instruction for elementary and secondary students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), and effective professional development for teachers of students with SLD.
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Doctoral Students
Jordan Abbott
Jordan Abbott is a doctoral student in Special Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include secondary special education service delivery, college-focused transition services for students with learning disabilities, and the transition experiences of students from underrepresented groups. Jordan has a master's in Education and Counseling and extensive experience as a special education teacher and facilitator at the high school level.
Suzan Kommers
Suzan is a Ph.D. student in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After completing her bachelor and master in Educational Science at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Suzan specializes in internationalization of higher education, study abroad and global competency development. Fueled by her own international experience, Suzan is passionate about researching how students can be supported in broadening their perspectives to create an environment that is appreciative of cultural diversity.
119N Furcolo Hall
813 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA, 01002
Hanni Thoma
Hanni is a doctoral student in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, Hanni went on to complete a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Bilingual/ESL/Multicultural Studies. A former Fulbright grantee to Hungary, Hanni’s current research interests are centered on the experiences of refugees and displaced scholars in US and European higher education systems.
Patricia Feraud-King
Patricia Tita Feraud-King is a first-year doctoral student and Assistant Residence Director at UMass. She received her Master’s of Science in Higher Education at University of Pennsylvania and her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. Her research interests are centered around higher education’s lack of inclusion and access for students of color, professional higher education staff of color, first-generation students, and low-income students.
Anna Fox
Anna Fox is a doctoral candidate studying higher education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include academic identity development in relation to gender and sexuality, disability within the college environment, adult learning theory, and perceived support for student activism on campus.
Mujtaba Hedayet
Mujtaba Hedayet is a Ph.D. student in higher education administration program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His scholarly interests include college access and success, quality assurance in higher education, higher education autonomy, leadership, and management, and higher education policy issues in developing countries. Mujtaba has a background in developing higher education internationally with a focus on strategic planning, accreditation, policy and program development, and university partnerships.
Victoria Malaney Brown
Victoria K. Malaney Brown is Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Victoria's research interests focus on multiracial college students, intergroup dialogue, critical race theory (MultiCrit), and student activism. Victoria's background in student affairs has included residence education, social justice programming, student conduct, student crisis intervention and academic integrity.
119N Furcolo Hall
813 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA, 01002
Catherine Manly
Catherine Manly is a doctoral candidate in higher education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and she teaches statistics for The American Women’s College @ Bay Path University. Her dissertation research investigates the effectiveness of the use of multiple modalities for presenting course content (one aspect of Universal Design for Learning) for improving student learning outcomes in online courses. She is interested in issues of postsecondary access and success, particularly for students underserved by traditional higher education, and the disruptive changes possible because of online and educational technologies.
119N Furcolo Hall
813 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA, 01002
Koboul E. Mansour
Koboul El Sayed Mansour is a Doctoral Student in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Koboul earned her Master’s degree in International and Comparative Education from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2014. She worked as a college administrator for a number of years in various capacities including Student Conduct, Diversity and Advocacy and Educational Outreach. Her research interests focus on the educational attainment for disadvantaged youth, College Access and Equity, Educational Policy and Reform with a particular focus on Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa.
Benjamin Ostiguy
Benjamin J. Ostiguy, M.Ed. is a doctoral student in Higher Education and Associate Director of Operations for disability services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a practitioner-scholar, his areas of inquiry involve college students with disabilities and institutional practices designed to support their full inclusion.
Kat Stephens
Kat J. Stephens, Ed. M., is a first year doctoral student in the Higher Education program at UMass Amherst. Her research interests include high-achieving community college students and their transfer choices, and higher education choices of Afro-Guyanese women in Guyana, desiring to study in the United States. Further interests include bi-cultural socialization of Afro-Caribbean descendant students as they navigate American graduate programs.
Miguel Tejada
I'm a first year doctoral student in the Higher Education program after receiving my master's degree from UMass Amherst in School Counseling. I'm from Springfield, Massachusetts and have an interest in working with the Latino Male community in college looking specifically at their engagement with student involvement and masculinity.
Nina Tissi-Gassoway
Nina Tissi-Gassoway (She/Her) is a PhD student in Social Justice Education (SJE) at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Nina earned her Master’s degree in College Student Services Administration and worked professionally in student affairs for 6 years before deciding to pursue her doctorate. Her doctoral research seeks to explore the ways Intergroup Dialogue can be used to examine race-relations and racism within queer college communities and build cross-race coalitions. Nina has served as a teaching assistant and instructor for undergraduate and graduate-level courses focusing on Intergroup dialogue and social justice issues in education.
Research Affiliates Outside of the College of Education
Dr. Robert Feldman, Senior Scholar
Dr. Robert S. Feldman is Senior Advisor to the Chancellor and Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He served as interim Dean of the College of Education in 2016-2017. To learn more about Dr. Feldman, click here.
Dr. Joshua Bittinger
Dr. Joshua Bittinger is a Senior Principal on the Employee Experience research team within the Human Resources Practice at Gartner. His research focuses on the college-related experiences of students with disabilities, including: access and transition, financial aid, and disability identity.
Dr. Rachel E. Friedensen
Dr. Rachel Friedensen is an Assistant Professor in Higher Education Administration at St. Cloud State University. Her research focuses on how these pedagogical changes impact the development of engineering identity for undergraduate students. To learn more about, Dr. Friedensen, click here.
Dr. Emily Perlow
Dr. Emily Perlow is Assistant Dean of Students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she has worked with STEM students for 13 years. She earned her PhD in educational policy and leadership, higher education specialization, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Emily’s research interests include analyzing systems, processes and cultures that inhibit student success, enhancing the experiences of marginalized populations in the higher education STEM pipeline, and deviant behavior among college populations, particularly hazing, and masculine expression among college men. She is currently co-primary investigator on a $240,000 3-year grant funded project funded by the Davis Educational Foundation exploring ways to implement more equitable and effective teamwork among STEM students. Emily also teaches in the student development in higher education program at Central Connecticut State University. To learn more about Dr. Perlow, click here.
Dr. Ashley Woodman
Dr. Woodman is a Lecturer in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department and Program Director for the Undergraduate Specialization in Developmental Disabilities and Human Services at UMass Amherst. Her research focuses on the impact of a raising a child with a developmental disability on parent well-being as well as family factors that predict trajectories of growth in children, adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities across the lifespan. To learn more about Dr. Woodman, click here.