The Impact of Poverty Informed Faculty on Community College Success

16 Apr 2023    

Barbara Embacher has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled “The Impact of Poverty Informed Faculty on Community College Success,” as part of the Educational Administration, Educational Leadership and Higher Education Doctor of Philosophy program in the Department of Educational Administration in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Embacher is a native of Mankato, Minnesota.
 
One solution to close equity gaps and increase success rates for students experiencing poverty is to educate college faculty about the causes, myths, stereotypes and facts about poverty, along with best-practice instructional strategies that help students experiencing poverty. A quantitative study was conducted to understand the perspectives of college faculty from four Minnesota State Community Colleges on the results of their beliefs, teaching strategies, and student success rates after receiving poverty-informed professional development.

Embacher’s advisor was Marilyn Grady, emeritus professor at Nebraska.