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The Conversation: Does 4 Years of College Make Students More Liberal?

Alyssa Rockenbach

Mar 8, 2024

Educators Can Help Foster Interpartisan Friendships on College Campuses

As American society continues to divide along political lines, higher education and educators have unique potential to help foster interpartisan friendships, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The findings are based on data from the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), a study that included 5,762 college students from… 

Dec 9, 2022

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Friendships Can Heal Campus Divisions, Study Finds, and Administrators Play a Big Role

Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenbach discusses how universities can bridge divides between students. 
Hands piled together

Nov 14, 2022

How Colleges Can Help Students Make Friends Who Have Different Religious, Spiritual Beliefs

Co-curricular opportunities can impact whether college students make friends with students from different faith traditions. 
college students

Apr 13, 2022

Inside Higher Ed: A New Tool for Assessing Campus Climate on Religion

A group of researchers at Ohio State University and NC State's College of Education has crafted a tool called the Interfaith, Spiritual, Religious, and Secular Campus Climate Index, or INSPIRES, which scores higher ed institutions on their levels of religious diversity and inclusion. 

Aug 31, 2021

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Complaints of Muzzled Conservatives Are Behind New Laws. But Liberals Feel Stifled, Too.

Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenback, Ph.D., discusses student activism as a form of free speech. 
New wolf statue on central campus.

May 17, 2021

Inside Higher Ed: The Transformative Power of Student Voices in the Midst of Racial Injustice

Joy Gaston Gayles, Ph.D., professor of higher education and senior advisor for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, and Alyssa Rockenbach, Ph.D., Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor, discuss the change-making influence of the work of student activists in the last year, despite the challenges wrought by the pandemic 
Wolf statue and the Park Alumni Center.

Apr 21, 2021

NC State College of Education Awarded $3.9 Million in Research Funding January-March, 2021

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, were awarded $3,927,703 to support 13 projects from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2021. 
Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenbach

Nov 2, 2020

Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenbach Selected as Member of ACPA Foundation’s 2021 Diamond Honoree Class

Alyssa Rockenbach, Ph.D., Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in the NC State College of Education, has been selected as a member of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Foundation’s 2021 Diamond Honoree Class. 
Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenbach

Sep 11, 2020

HuffPost: Students’ Positive Views Of Liberals Increased During College Years, Study Finds

A new study from the IDEALS Project suggested that students’ appreciation for both conservatives and liberals increased during freshman year. But by the time they graduated, positive attitudes toward conservatives dropped back to freshman-year levels, while opinions about liberals continued to improve. 
Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Alyssa Rockenbach

Sep 11, 2020

The Conversation: Does 4 Years of College Make Students More Liberal?

Through analysis of 3,486 students at 116 U.S. colleges and universities, the IDEALS Project found that students’ positive attitudes toward political conservatives were largely the same when they started college and four years later.