Jennifer is Managing Researcher for Dr. Peter Riley Bahr’s research team in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. The team’s research examines students’ educational pathways through community colleges and their academic and labor market outcomes, with particular attention to the role of institution and state policy in shaping pathways and outcomes. Presently, Jennifer leads projects on stackable credential pathways, short-term course-taking (skills-building), and transitions between adult education and postsecondary degree programs. She also manages the team’s projects examining the educational and labor market outcomes of students in postsecondary career and technical education, noncredit education, and the experiences of adult learners in community colleges.
Jennifer holds a PhD in higher education from the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, where her dissertation examined mission change in community colleges and its implications. She also holds an MA in higher education from Boston College, a BA in secondary education and history from Boston College, and a graduate certificate in institutional research from Pennsylvania State University. She previously worked in institutional research at Massasoit Community College (Brockton, Massachusetts) and Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts).