UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State will host a national symposium, "Envisioning Racial Equity on College Campuses: Bridging Research-to-Practice Gaps for Institutional Transformation," Feb. 7-9 at the Hyatt Place State College.
This symposium brings together Penn State practitioners and higher education scholars from across the country with expertise on research-based policies and practices that address racial inequities on college and university campuses.
The symposium is organized by Penn State researchers Royel M. Johnson, assistant professor of higher education, and Uju Anya, assistant professor of second language learning; and Liliana Garces, associate professor of higher education at University of Texas-Austin. The researchers were awarded a grant by the Spencer Foundation to host the convening.
“Remarkable research-to-practice gaps exist in higher education," said Johnson. "Many practitioners and policymakers face increasingly complex and fast-paced conditions for decision making, unique local challenges, and accountability demands for immediate results. And educational researchers often give short shrift to implications sections of scholarly publications or only publish in research journals that do not necessarily reach practitioners who stand the most to gain from the work.”
“These gaps leave many institutional actors ill prepared to address systematic challenges related to racial inequality on campus through evidence-based practice,” Johnson added. “Our goal is to try to figure out how we can make our research more actionable by hearing directly from practitioners, while also identifying areas of practice that are in need of further research."
For more information, contact Johnson at rmj19@psu.edu or 814-865-2584.