Xueli Wang, Ph.D. – xwang273@wisc.edu
Principal Investigator
Dr. Xueli Wang is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a PhD in Higher Education from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on college students’ pathways and success, with a particular focus on community colleges and undergraduate STEM education. Wang’s work has been published in numerous journals, such as American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, Teachers College Record, Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, Community College Journal of Research and Practice and Community College Review. Wang’s research has been supported by the Association for Institutional Research, the American Educational Research Association, the National Science Foundation, and the UW-Madison Graduate School’s Fall Competition program. Wang served as a Young Academic Fellow (2011-2012) with the Institute of Higher Education Policy and the Lumina Foundation. In Spring 2015, she was awarded the Barbara K. Townsend Emerging Scholar Award by the Council for the Study of Community Colleges.
Amy Prevost, Ph.D. – aprevost@wisc.edu
Assistant Researcher
Dr. Amy Prevost is an assistant researcher for the Contextualize to Learn project. Her work primarily focuses on qualitative aspects of education research, and her primary areas of interest lie in understanding educational pathways in STEM programs, improving student outcomes at the post-secondary level, including access to careers, and trying to understand what experiences contribute to students’ abilities to transfer knowledge. Amy is a lifelong Wisconsin resident having received her PhD from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (with a minor in Public Policy from the LaFollette School of Public Affairs) as well as Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and French (also from University of Wisconsin-Madison).
Kelly Wickersham, Ph.D. – krconrad@wisc.edu
Research Associate
Dr. Kelly Wickersham is a research associate for the Contextualize to Learn project. Her research centers on qualitative and mixed methods exploration of community college student pathways, mobility, and success in higher education, as well as community college STEM education, experiences, transfer, and completion. She received her PhD from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kelly has prior experience working in the area of international higher education and received bachelor’s degrees in French and Italian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Yen Lee – ylee373@wisc.edu
Graduate Research Assistant
Yen Lee is a doctoral student of the Quantitative Methods program in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests lie in Modern analysis methods for education research. She assists with quantitative data management for the project.
Xiwei Zhu – xzhu253@wisc.edu
Graduate Research Assistant
Xiwei Zhu is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned a master’s degree from Global Higher Education Program in 2016.
Brit Wagner – brwagner3@wisc.edu
Project Affiliate
Brit Wagner is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Along with her research interests in community colleges, her dissertation work focuses on the educational experiences of international students studying in four-year institutions. Prior to pursuing graduate education, she worked as an international student services coordinator at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and as a teaching assistant for the School District of Onalaska. She holds a master’s degree in Global Higher Education from UW-Madison, and a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Brett Nachman – bnachman@wisc.edu
Project Affiliate
Brett Nachman is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a graduate student researcher and Fairbrother Fellow, Brett’s research predominantly focuses on the depictions and experiences of autistic college students. He also studies community college transfer students and issues impacting LGBTQ campus climate.