Isabel McMullen

Far beyond Harvard, conservative efforts to reshape higher education are gaining steam Far beyond Harvard University and its standoff with the Trump administration, Republican officials in several states have been pushing for changes at public universities.

This piece pulls together a lot of recent examples of board-driven actions in higher ed, and rightfully points out that when boards become politicized, they are then subject to those politics at all levels of government: apnews.com/article/harv...

The job market for PhDs may be terrible, but the spectrum internet person that just helped me transfer my internet ended the call by telling me I'm gonna do great things with my degree, so there's that.

Local Elections, National Tides: The Role of Partisanship in School Board Elections: 2024 Post-Election Reflection Series - Prior to the 2024 US Presidential Election, APSA’s Diversity and Inclusion Programs Department issued a call for submissions, entitled 2024 APSA Post-Election Reflections, for a PSNow blog series of political science scholars who reflect on [...]

In our 2024 U.S. Post-Election Reflection via
@apsa.bsky.social, Rebecca Jacobsen and I preview some of our ongoing research on how partisanship and nationalization influence on-cycle local school board elections.

Screenshot of policy brief that reads: This delay (or outright refusal) to compile a robust COE weakens our nation’s ability to accurately assess the current condition of education and the progress we have made. Policy actors such as the Congressional Research Service use Digest tables. Scholars leverage the COE to explain in policy briefs the effects of K-12 class-size reduction policies or whether an “enrollment cliff” actually looms for higher education. The press also uses this data to help the public understand issues like the rise in total cost of attendance at colleges and universities or challenges in the teacher labor market in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morning! I did a lil analysis and turns out that, when ED employees are illegally fired and contracts are canceled, ED is unable to fulfill its congressional mandate to publish national statistics on the condition of education.

Why does that matter? Well...

www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

Republicans Trying to Control Indiana University Meet Little Resistance

This piece picks up on a lot of important threads of board dynamics, one of which is that for publics, while there isn't the same conspicuousness as with Harvard/Columbia, the same politics are playing out, just more quietly and with less opportunity to rally against

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...

Portraying Governance: Demographic Misalignment in University Board Representation Higher education governing boards are important bodies with far-reaching powers over the institutions they oversee. Yet little is known about individual board members, how the composition of boards va...

Governing boards are at the center of every higher ed story these days. What do we know about board governance? What does board composition look like nationwide, and how is it shaped by partisan appointments? My new working paper introduces new data to these questions:
edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1212

You might as well just hold on to your convictions, since abandoning them all is clearly not a viable strategy against eroding higher ed governance

The Upjohn Institute is looking for a research analyst to support our research on employment issues. Please share with your networks. #econsky #hiring
www.upjohn.org/employment-o...

Weather is getting nice, what if 10 million people went outside at the same time

Board composition, transparency, and accountability to stakeholders matters to the future of higher ed. Inclusive boards of trustees have the intellectual dexterity and structural muscle to make insightful, valued-based decisions that serve missions in harmony with the needs of the stakeholders.

Playing this as my hype music before my dissertation proposal defense today

Thanks, Dominique!

The political stakes of who sits on university boards Isabel McMullen shares research on the demographics of public higher education boards and how representative they are of students and faculty.

With all of the targeting of higher ed, it's critical that we have a good understanding of who governs our institutions - I wrote this piece for Brookings to summarize what we know. I also show some new data on the politics and representativeness of public boards.

www.brookings.edu/articles/und...

My dad's sign for the #handsoff rally in my hometown of Kalamazoo where apparently a few thousand turned out!

Wisconsin is critical for any presidential candidate, and Wisconsin LOVES when a sharp, no-nonsense, hometown woman on the ballot. Just saying.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Results 2025: Crawford vs. Schimel Get live results and maps from the 2025 Wisconsin spring elections.

Calling results from November "overwhelming" means we need a new word to describe this massive 10 point win by Crawford. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Throwback

What comes next now that pandemic aid for education has ended? Education experts examine how pandemic-era federal aid was allocated, its impact on schools and students, and future funding risks.

What comes next for higher ed? @katharinemeyer.bsky.social and I wrote this piece on pandemic-era funding streams and the window they give into what turning decision-making to the states might mean. Plus more on district implications here too: www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...

Thoughts on turning @aefpweb.bsky.social this year into, oh I don't know, one giant protest?

What do education leaders need to know about the Department of Education's new guidance on race and civil rights? On February 28, join Brookings for a webinar with education and legal scholars to discuss the legality of the February 14 guidance letter

🚨 Join us this Fri 2/28 @ 1:30PM, ET for an online webinar with education and legal scholars, including experts in civil rights enforcement, to discuss the legality of the Department of Education's Feb 14 Dear Colleague Letter & the potential threat of enforcement.

www.brookings.edu/events/what-...

Two new pieces in our series on why we have and need a US Department of Education!

First up, from the past, current, and presidents-elect of AEFP and SREE - "Cutting research funding would make education less effective and efficient"

www.brookings.edu/articles/cut...

YESSSS!!! Go Erin!! This is so exciting.

Letter signed by 800+ people who hold PhDs in political science expressing grave concern about the degredation of US institutions, rule of law, and democracy. Share with Congress, print for dramatic display, or cite as evidence of experts’ collective alarm. drive.google.com/file/d/1lGk2...

heads up, badgers

go team!!! Congrats!

An important part of the legacy work of IES is the predoc program that trains and launches education scholars - I'm worried for existing grants and sad to think there likely won't be a cohort coming up behind us.

Every Child Left Behind

Damn right!