Xueli Wang

I am a professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I teach graduate courses on community colleges, assessment in higher education, and mixed methods research in education. With a focus on STEM education and community colleges, my research is aimed at identifying practices, structures, and policies toward transformative change for optimal educational opportunities and equitable outcomes. In collaboration with a number of community and technical colleges, my NSF-funded longitudinal, mixed methods projects have investigated beginning two-year college students’ pathways and success, particularly in STEM fields, as well as how faculty development translates into teaching practices that subsequently shape students’ experiences and outcomes.

A notable example of my work is my book “On My Own” (Harvard Education Press, published April 2020): https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/on-my-own Grounded in longitudinal, mixed methods research, this book unravels inequities in access to transfer, particularly in STEM fields of study, and illuminates policy and practices toward cultivating equitable STEM transfer pathways.