Stephen R. Porter is Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Adult & Higher Education at North Carolina State University, where he also serves as coordinator for the graduate research methods sequence for the College of Education. He teaches courses in educational statistics, causal inference with observational data, and survey research methods.
He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester, with a concentration in econometrics. Prior to his faculty positions at North Carolina State and Iowa State University, he spent nine years in higher education administration in the field of institutional research, working first at the University of Maryland, College Park, and most recently as Director of Institutional Research at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
His current research focuses on student success, with an emphasis on quasi-experimental methods, and survey methods, particularly the validity of college student survey questions. He has published in journals such as Economics of Education Review, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Higher Education, Public Opinion Quarterly, Research in Higher Education, and Review of Higher Education. He presents regularly at national education research conferences.
Dr. Porter is currently an editorial board member for Research in Higher Education and Review of Higher Education. He is also Chair of the Education Systems and Broad Reform grant review panel of the Institute of Education Sciences.
For prospective doctoral students:
I am interested in working with students who wish to earn their Ph.D. and then
1) Become a faculty member in education;
2) Analyze education policy (e.g., for a think tank or higher education governance board); or
3) Conduct assessment and evaluation work in institutional research or student affairs.
My main substantive area of interest (outside of research methods) is student success, from college access to labor market outcomes after college. I use quantitative methods in this area, so I am looking for students who are also interested in developing and using their quantitative skills to study college students.
Unlike most other higher education doctoral programs, our research methods sequence offers advanced training in areas such as quasi-experimental methods and survey research. These skills are increasingly in demand, both within academia and without.
