Date of Award

8-31-2026

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education/Higher Education PhD

First Advisor

Jay Dee

Second Advisor

Monnica Chan

Third Advisor

Denisa Gandara

Abstract

This grounded theory study examines how public scholarship functions as a bridge between Latine student success research and higher education policymaking. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Latine faculty use public scholarship to influence Latine student success policies, as well as develop a theoretical understanding of how this engagement operates within policymaking contexts. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the study draws on interviews with 13 Latine faculty members, along with extensive document analysis of their public scholarship.

Findings reveal that Latine faculty engage in public scholarship as a relational, collective, and culturally grounded process of policy influence. The study identified six themes demonstrating how Latine faculty conceptualize, enact, and sustain public scholarship as a form of policy influence for Latine student success: collective work for impact; moral work rooted in Latine identity; influence as relational; policy influence through a Latine cultural lens; the toll of visibility; and learning as praxis, which reflects the ongoing, experiential nature of engaging in this work.

The study presents the Latine Bridge for Public Scholarship theory, which conceptualizes this process as a dynamic, relational bridge connecting research and policy through culturally grounded practices, Latine identity, collective action, and ongoing navigation of structural constraints. This theory provides a framework for understanding how public scholarship translates knowledge on Latine student success into policymaking spaces and contributes to policy influence over time. This study advances a public scholarship framework for policymaking by introducing a Latine cultural lens, identifying culturally grounded pathways of influence among Latine faculty, reconceptualizing intermediaries as culturally grounded policy brokers, and positioning public scholarship as a culturally grounded mechanism of policy influence.

The implications of this study highlight the importance of sustained relationships among policymakers, intermediary organizations, and faculty to strengthen connections between research and policymaking. It also calls on higher education institutions to better support and recognize public scholarship engagement within faculty workload and evaluation processes. For faculty, the findings underscore the importance of engaging in public scholarship as a culturally grounded and sustaining practice that leverages community knowledge and lived experience to influence policy.

Comments

Free and open access to this work is made available to the UMass Boston community by ScholarWorks at UMass Boston.

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