What are higher education’s purposes and obligations in a democratic society?
I have published research that explores this question in a variety of scholarly and policymaker outlets. My work has appeared in The Review of Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, Higher Education, the Journal of Research in Rural Education, Educational Policy, and the Journal of Education Policy. I also write policy briefs in the hopes of informing public policy decisions. I have written policy briefs that have been published by Third Way, the Scholars Strategy Network, and the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges.
Regional Public Universities
Orphan, C. M., Whetherbee, M., & Duncan, B. (2022). Identifying, Defining, and Supporting Regional Public Universities and Colleges. Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges.
Orphan, C. M. & McClure, K. R. (2022). Recommitting to Stewards of Place: Creating and sustaining thriving communities for the decades ahead. American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Orphan, C. M. & McClure, K. R. (2022). An expanded vision of the value of postsecondary education: Regional public universities as broadly accessible anchor institutions. Change Magazine: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 54(6), 26-32.
Orphan, C. M. & Broom, S. (2021). Life at the ‘people’s universities’: Organizational identification and commitment among regional comprehensive university faculty members in the United States. Higher Education, 82(1), 181-201.
Orphan, C. M. & Hartley, J. M. (2020). How change unravels: The failure of ideal-centered change at regional comprehensive universities. The Journal of Higher Education, 92(3), 385-409.
Orphan, C. M. (2020). Not all regional public universities strive for prestige: Examining and strengthening mission-centeredness within a vital sector. New Directions for Higher Education, Volume 2020(120), 9-24.
Orphan, C. M. & Miller, G. N. S. (2020). The company regional comprehensive universities desire to keep: Choosing institutional membership associations. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(2), 300-325.
Orphan, C. M. (2018). Public purpose under pressure: Examining the effects of neoliberal policy on regional comprehensive universities. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 22(2), 59-102.
Rural-Serving Institutions
Koricich, A., Sansone, V., Hicklin Fryar, A., Orphan, C. M., & McClure, K. (2022). Introducing our nation’s rural-serving institutions: Promoting greater visibility and appreciation for a vital postsecondary sector. [Policy Report.] Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges.
McClure, K. R., Orphan, C. M., Hicklin Fryar, A., & Koricich, A. (2021). Strengthening rural anchor institutions: Federal policy solutions for rural public colleges and the communities they serve. [Policy Report.] Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges.
Orphan, C. M. & McClure, K. R. (2019). An anchor for the region: Examining a regional comprehensive university’s efforts to serve its rural, Appalachian community. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 35(9), 1-19.
Public Policy & Campus Administration
McCoy-Simmons, C., Orphan, C. M., & Gándara, D. (2022). Intermediary public policy organizations and the discursive evasion of systemic racism and racialized violence. Educational Policy, online first.
Crisp, G., McClure, I. R., & Orphan, C. M. (Eds.).(2021). Unlocking opportunity through broadly accessible institutions. Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Orphan, C. M., Laderman, S., & Gildersleeve, R. E. (2021). Advocates or honest information brokers? Examining the higher education public policy agenda setting efforts of intermediary public policy organizations. The Review of Higher Education, 44(3), 325-355.
Tandberg, D., Orphan C. M., Hicklin Fryar, A. (2021). Stimulating regional economic development through public universities. State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.
Orphan, C. M., Gildersleeve, R. E. & Mills, A. P. (2020). State of rhetoric: Neoliberal discourses for education in state of the state addresses and gubernatorial press releases. Journal of Education Policy, 35(3), 394-420.
Tyson, M., Orphan, C. M., Kiyama, J. M., Nelson, C. A. (2020). Leveraging higher education departments to promote institutional change for equity and the public good. Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education, 5, 39-55.
Orphan, C. M., Diaz Solodukhin, L. & Romero, D. (2018). Fostering collective impact: Measuring and advancing higher education’s contributions to civic health and equity in Colorado. International Journal of Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement, 6(1), 1-20.