AIR Professional File: Call for Submissions

The AIR Professional File is planning a special issue on the theme of Building More Inclusive Systems for Who Counts. While institutional research is a mainstay for providing replicable and standardized data about university populations such as faculty, staff, and students, our systems too often limit who can be counted, and in what ways those individuals can be described. For example: since they are neither faculty, staff, nor student, postdoctoral scholars (postdocs) are rendered invisible (Schaller & McDowell, 2016); the number of undocumented students pursuing higher education is often estimated (California Student Aid Commission, 2023); systems conflate sex and gender rendering trans identified individuals as other (Bates, Chin, & Becker, 2022); disability identification within education needs improved practices and strategies (Artiles, 2019); and who comprises our faculty on a national level is largely unknown (Faculty, Academic Careers & Environments Project, 2023). What these disparate issues and groups have in common is a need for good practices to build systems for more inclusive representation. Institutional data collection and reporting systems need better ways to identify who comprises our institutional communities, with attention to upholding the autonomy, confidentiality, and privacy of minoritized individuals. 

Topics for the special issue could include (but are not limited to):

• Undocumented/DACAmented students, and individuals who may or may not hold legal status, moving beyond the U.S. citizen/international student binary. 
• Postdoctoral scholars, as too often these individuals are not hired into the same job code and fall outside of traditional faculty/staff/student groupings.
• Gender identity: considering more than the gender binary for populations within institutions of higher education, including students, staff, faculty, and postdocs.
• First generation status: considering how this information is collected and reported for students of all levels.
• Disability status: differentiating among physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional, and sensory impaired disabilities, toward understanding prevalence and need among faculty, staff, students, and postdocs.
• Adjunct faculty: term by term appointments may defy census date reporting, inviting opportunities for systematic ways to count these important contributors.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words (excluding references) should be submitted to describe a proposed topic and article, including the following components: 

• Manuscript purpose/topic 
• Strategies for systematically gathering and reporting information about an overlooked group and/or status within higher education. Proposed strategies and practices should (as applicable):
  • Provide clear guidance regarding the importance of responsible data use, including but not limited to secure data collection, access, storage, deidentification, and aggregate reporting; and
  • Delineate safeguards for ensuring the autonomy, privacy, and confidentiality of individuals holding various minoritized identities.
• Showcase examples, as appropriate. 

Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript. Invited authors will then submit to the AIR Professional File, Special Issue: Building More Inclusive Systems for Who Counts and undergo double blind peer review. Manuscripts should be 5,000–10,000 words, inclusive of references, tables, and figures, and use APA 7th edition style for in-text references and a complete reference list. 

Submission

Abstracts are due Friday, September 1, 2023. 

To submit your abstract, please use this Qualtrics link.

Or copy and paste into your browser: https://albany.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_h3wVSmPrcJdSVBPw 

For questions, please email the guest editor, Elizabeth Jach, PhD (she/her), Assistant Professor, Educational Policy and Leadership, University at Albany, State University of New York at ejach@albany.edu. 

References 

Artiles, A. J. (2019). Fourteenth annual Brown lecture in education research. Re envisioning equity research: Disability identification disparities as a case in point. Educational Researcher, 48(6), 325-335. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19871949 

Bates, N., Chin, M., & Becker, T. (2022). Measuring sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26424

California Student Aid Commission. (2023, March 1). Renewing the Dream: Improving financial aid & college affordability for California’s undocumented students. www.csac.ca.gov/sites/main/files/fileaAttachments/renewing_the_dream_full_report.pdf?1677607402

Faculty, Academic Careers, & Environments Project. (2023). Putting a FACE on Faculty. Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California. https://pullias.usc.edu/face-on-faculty/

Schaller, M., & McDowell, G. (2015, November 1). Are postdocs still invisible? ASBMBToday. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/policy/110116/are-postdocs-still-invisible