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Alyssa N. Rockenbach

Professor of Higher Education, North Carolina State University

Alyssa Rockenbach is professor of higher education in the department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University. Her interdisciplinary research centers on the effects of college environments and experiences on student learning; religious and worldview diversity issues in higher education; intergroup dynamics, cooperation, and attitudes; young adult psychosocial development; and gender and LGBTQ equity issues in education and society. She is co-principal investigator of a five-year national study, the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), which explores how educational experiences affect college students’ capacity to engage and cooperate with people of diverse worldviews. Dr. Rockenbach has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters, reports and monographs, and other scholarly works. She is co-author of the 2016 book, How College Affects Students: 21st Century Evidence that Higher Education Works, a synthesis of over 1,800 research studies of college impact conducted from 2002 to 2013, and she co-edited the 2012 volume, Spirituality in College Students’ Lives: Translating Research Into Practice. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, and The Conversation. She was named Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University, and received the Applied Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Award from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Rockenbach received her B.A. in psychology from California State University, Long Beach and her M.A. and Ph.D. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Higher Education, North Carolina State University

Education

  • 2004 
    University of California, Los Angeles, Education