Profiles

Morgan, Demetri L.

About

Demetri L. Morgan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education Program. Dr. Morgan's research agenda's driving thrust is exploring the relationship between postsecondary education institutions and political and democratic implications for minoritized groups. Accordingly, Dr. Morgan centers the pursuit of equity in all of his projects with a commitment to research and practice that cultivates moves towards realizing increased democratic engagement facilitated by postsecondary education institutions living more fully into their espoused missions.

To harken this reality, Dr. Morgan has four interrelated lines of inquiry around

• student activism and political engagement;
• culturally sustaining organizational governance;
• the cultivation of inclusive campus climates,
• socially responsible science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. As a qualitative structuralist, Dr. Morgan leverages organizational theories and qualitative or multiple-method research designs to pursue a range of sub-questions within these topics that highlight how people experience macro-systems, policies, and organizational cultures.

Dr. Morgan has published articles in the Review of Higher Education, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of College Student Development, and the Journal of Engineering Education. He co-edited a book, “Student activism, politics, and campus climate in higher education” in 2019. Dr. Morgan has also co-authored numerous book chapters on governance, campus climate, civic and political engagement, and race in higher education. In July 2017, Dr. Morgan launched the Diverse Democracy and Higher Education Project to provide accessible and timely resources that help institutions actualize their roles in a democracy. Dr. Morgan is also a co-founder of the Critical Higher Education Governance Collaborative and was recognized in 2019 as a fellow of the Place-Based Justice Network.

Degrees

• PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Program Areas

• Higher Education

Research Interests

• Student Activism and Political Engagement
• Postsecondary Education Governance
• College Student Development
• Campus Climate
• Equity and Inclusion
• Organizational Theory
• Socially Responsible Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

Professional & Community Affiliations

• Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
• American Educational Research Association (ASHE)
• American College Personnel Association - College Student Educators International (ACPA)
• National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

Courses Taught

• ELPS 454 Budgeting and Finance in Higher Education
• ELPS 459 Organization and Governance in Higher Education
• ELPS 432 Multiculturalism and Social Justice in Higher Education
• ELPS 429 Contemporary Political Issues in Higher Education [Elective]

Awards

• Place-Based Justice Network Fellow

Selected Publications

• Morgan, D. L. & Davis III, C. H. F. (Eds). (2019). Student activism, politics, and campus climate in higher education. New York, NY: Routledge
• Zilvinskis, J., Morgan, D. L., & Dugan, B. J. (2020). Measuring institutional effects on student activism. Journal of College Student Development, 61(3), 372-378.
• Rall, R. M., Morgan, D. L., & Commodore, F. (2020). Towards culturally sustaining governance: Best practices of theory, research, and practice. Journal of Education Human Resources, 38(1), 139–164. Morgan, D. L., Davis, K. B., & López, N. (2020). Engineering political fluency: Identifying tensions in the political identity development of engineering majors. Journal of Engineering Education, 109(1), 107–124.
• Morgan, D. L., Zilvinskis, J., & Dugan, B. J. (2020). Opening the activism and postsecondary education black box: Relating high-impact practices and student identity with activist behaviors. Journal of Political Science Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2019.1612248
• Morgan, D. L. (2019). Nuancing political identity formation in higher education: A phenomenological examination of precollege socialization, identity, and context. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000153
• Curtis, S. M. S., Bacha, G. M., & Morgan, D. L. (2019). Cynicism or apathy?: Defining political norms influencing the campus climate. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 56(5), 492–505. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2019.1648276