Doctoral students G Capone, Eduardo Santander, and Ying Tong are the 2024 recipients of the Anna Neumann Supporting Student Research Award.
The Anna Neumann Supporting Student Research Award has been supported over the years by Professor Neumann's former students and other HPSE alumni and supporters. The award recognizes and seeks to advance promising dissertation research on faculty careers and college teaching and learning.
G CAPONE
G Capone (he/they) is a PhD student and the Ed.M., Ed.D. and Ph.D. Inquiries Coordinator in the Higher and Postsecondary Education program at Teachers College. Their research interests are focused on exploring the lived experiences of trans faculty, specifically those who teach, and the intersections of teaching with the performance of gender. He is interested in the relationship, one that might include both rejection and/or a deep sense of community, that trans professors have with the academy. G received his master’s degree in Higher and Postsecondary Education at Teachers College in 2021 and holds a bachelor’s degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).
With this award, G is planning to attend the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference in the fall. This conference is likely to help him advance his research plans and activities by providing him with an opportunity to be around other higher education scholars and in turn be exposed to the ways research is socialized within the field. The theme of the 2024 conference is “I Am a Scholar,” which invites participants to consider their own identities as scholars and calls into question who those in attendance, or those who contribute to the field, are as a scholarly community. This will be an opportunity to learn from scholars across the field of higher education about what it means to be a scholar.
EDUARDO SANTANDER
My research project explores the critical transition from high school to college learning, focusing on the role of faculty in supporting first-year students. The study addresses the observed pattern of tenured faculty's relative absence in teaching "gateway" or "bottleneck" courses, such as Introduction to Physics or Statistics 101, based on an analysis of published class schedules and other data. The reasons behind this absence are not yet fully understood and warrant further investigation, without assuming faculty's reluctance as the sole explanation.
By examining the differences between high school teachers and college faculty in terms of their beliefs about learning, the research seeks to bridge the gap between high school and college learning expectations. Through exploring faculty perspectives and experiences, the study aims to develop a nuanced understanding of the factors contributing to tenured faculty's absence in first-year courses. This understanding will inform the development of targeted strategies for supporting students in their transition to higher education, promoting academic success and personal growth.
YING TONG
I am Ying and I am a second-year Ph.D. student in HPSE program at TC. My research interests involve the intellectual growth and professional development of international faculty and doctoral students in the U.S. I am particularly fascinated by exploring how these early-career scholars (and doctoral students), who come from different countries, experience the process of being socialized into their disciplinary and institutional communities in U.S universities. What positive experiences do they have, and what unique insights do they gain? What challenges do they encounter, and what strategies do they employ to navigate these obstacles? As an international student from China, I also have a keen interest in investigating the preparation of doctoral students for being future faculty in Chinese universities. My ultimate aim is to contribute to the development of evidence-based policies and practices for promoting effective teaching and professional development of future faculty in higher education institutions, especially so in China. Through my career, I hope to make a positive impact on the quality of higher education with attention to the intellectual and professional growth of both students and faculty.