Research to Practice

February 27, 2024

Coaching For Change: Equity Towards Equality

As we come to the end of this Black History Month, we want to express our unwavering dedication to fostering equity and taking proactive measures to uphold the diverse and inclusive standards we set for ourselves, while also encouraging similar commitments from others. In alignment with this mission, we invite you to explore our Coaching…

February 20, 2024

Examining Gaps in Supporting Underserved Community College Students

Within CCRI’s research, we recognize the unique challenges faced by students from marginalized backgrounds, particularly those belonging to communities of color, who form a significant portion of our community college demographic. Our exploration of data and historical trends reveals that due to a persistent lack of clarity in transfer pathways in STEM majors, these students…

January 25, 2024

Narrowing the Education Gap with Lia Wetzstein, CCRI

UW Today shares Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ recent interview with CCRI director Lia Wetzstein to discuss critical details of the importance of transfer. Having recently attended the U.S. Department of Education’s first ever National Summit on Transfer, Lia examines the paramount issues surrounding transfer between two- and four- year institutions and their impacts. Lia also details…

November 17, 2023

New Data Dashboard from the Transfer Summit

Last week CCRI Lia Wetzstein, joined fellow delegates selected to represent Washington state at the Raise the Bar Transfer Summit where over 200 higher education professionals are gathered. This summit brings together state, institution, and other leaders in the field and is part of the Raise the Bar: Attaining College Excellence & Equity series:…

November 7, 2023

STEM Transfer Partnership’s Convening 4

We are excited to share the great work being accomplished with this community of practice which is dedicated to improving transfer for STEM students from low-income backgrounds. The STEM Transfer Partnerships program convened for the 4th time last week and we experienced new connections being made for STEM pathways among 2- and 4-year institutions in…

October 21, 2023

NTSW: Overcoming the Turbulent Period of COVID-19 Through CCRI Student Support

With Transfer being one of the most understudied yet most frequently occuring phenomena in higher education, it is important to recognize the functions at play involving societal inequities that continually contribute to adversities transfer students face. Considering transfer students already deal with intense adjustments depending on the institutions they come from (i.e. new requirements, new…

October 17, 2023

NTSW: STEM Transfer Partnership Engineering Pathway Access Increase

Team members Matthew Ford, Aleya Dhanji, Kira Glynn King, Jie Sheng, Skyler Roth, and Emese Hadnagy have been looking into increasing and consistently expanding outreach to minority serving 2-year and 4-year institutions to promote engineering pathways for increasing students’ upward mobility. Through countless trials and tribulations, this incredible group of individuals focused on identifying shared…

September 18, 2023

Talking about Transforming Transfer with the Chronicle of Higher Education

In August, Dr. Lia Wetzstein, the director of CCRI, participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The focus of discussion was the need to improve the transfer process to achieve more equitable outcomes in higher education. Lia had the opportunity to highlight CCRI’s STEM Transfer Partnerships, composed of nine teams…

March 28, 2023

The UW’s Community College Research Initiatives receives $449,535 grant to increase rural educational equity

The University of Washington’s Community College Research Initiatives announced that it received a $449,535 grant from Ascendium Education Group for research to increase rural learner success. Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI) conducts research to facilitate the advancement of equity in higher education. Ascendium invests in research that helps to build a body of evidence about…

March 15, 2023

Transformative partnership praxis for equitable STEM transfer

As the STEM Transfer Partnership (STP) program approaches the one-year mark, we are able to reflect on the strategies for success that our two-year and four-year institutional partners have developed in their work to advance their partnerships and increase STEM transfer success for low income students. In our second data note on the STP program, we…