Román Liera

Screenshot of abstract that reads: We examine how the length and topical content of letters (e.g., sentences about Personal Qualities, Athletics, Intellectual Promise, etc.) relate to race/ethnicity, sex, and proxies for socioeconomic status. We explore whether differences in letter characteristics persist when accounting for additional student, school, and counselor characteristics; letters written by the same counselor; and for students with higher standardized test scores. We found noteworthy naïve differences in letter length and content across nearly all demographic groups, many reflecting known inequities (e.g., longer letters and more sentences on Personal Qualities for private school students). However, the ultimate implications of these patterns hinge on exactly how and when letters are used in admissions processes (e.g., are letters evaluated at face value across all students, or are they mostly compared to other letters from the same high school or counselor?).

Oh look, new open access paper from people who actually understand US college admissions. We examine 600k counselor recommendation letters, but we stress that saying there's variation does not mean that we know what gets someone admitted.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Racialized Legitimacy in Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Training This special issue emphasizes how racism and racialization are embedded in the processes used to evaluate and confer legitimacy to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Excited to share a #callforabstracts for our next special issue: "Racialized Legitimacy in Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Training", with guest editors @airealejoi.bsky.social, @julieposselt.bsky.social, @romanliera.bsky.social & Lauren Irwin

www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/calls-for-pa...

Our #WomensHistoryMonth edition with stories on the NCAA, Bernadette Atuahene, women in #highered leadership, and much more, is now available!

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🚨 Tonight at 6:30 PM! 🚨 Join us for a Deep Study Roundtable with Black Study in Education Lab Faculty-in-Residence, Dr. @tichavakunda.bsky.social , as we engage with Derrick Bell’s theory of racial realism. #BlackStudy #DeepStudy #RacialRealism

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Live news from NJ bro

Dr. Aireale Rodgers and me studied how PhD students of color perceived and experienced racial commodification in the academic job market, from tensions to position themselves as the right type of diversity to centralizing what felt authentic to them. Check it out:
doi.org/10.1353/rhe....

We argue that Presidents of Color are in a paradox where they need to navigate expectations and norms to perform whiteness to access leadership positions while managing how to centralize their authentic selves and values for racial equity.

Excited to share a new article I co-authored with Cheryl Ching Raquel M. Rall, Megan Chase, and Estela Bensimon on racialization in presidential search and appointment processes. The study was funded by College Futures Foundation and published with AERA Open. doi.org/10.1177/2332...