MICHAEL B. PAULSEN is Professor of Higher Education & Student Affairs at The University of Iowa. His primary areas of scholarly expertise are: (a) economics, finance and policy in higher education; and (b) teaching, learning and curriculum in higher education. Prior to his faculty appointment at The University of Iowa, he was a professor of higher education at the Universities of Illinois, Alabama and New Orleans. He is Series Editor of the annual volumes of the scholarly books series, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. He has also served for over twenty years on the editorial board of Research in Higher Education. He has over seventy publications—books, journal articles, and book chapters. In addition to his annual volumes of the Handbook, Professor Paulsen’s other books include Economics of Higher Education (w/R. Toutkoushian); The Finance of Higher Education (w/J. Smart); Applying Economics to Institutional Research (w/R. Toutkoushian); Taking Teaching Seriously (w/K. Feldman); Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom (w/K. Feldman); and College Choice. His work has been published in an array of professional journals, such as Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, Journal of Education Finance, Economics of Education Review, Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education, Journal of Faculty Development, and College Teaching. In 2015, Dr. Paulsen received the RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.
LAURA W. PERNA is James S. Riepe Professor and Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Her research uses varied methodological approaches to identify how social structures, educational practices, and public policies promote and limit college access and success, particularly for groups that continue to be underrepresented in higher education. Her research has been published in books and monographs, as well as articles in such journals as American Educational Research Journal, Educational Policy, Educational Researcher, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, and Teachers College Record. She has served on the editorial boards of leading journals in the field, as well as President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), Vice President of the Postsecondary Division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and chair of Penn’s Faculty Senate. She is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, and recipient of ASHE’sEarly Career Achievement Award, Penn’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award.