Manuel Gonzalez Canche, an assistant professor in UGA’s Institute of Higher Education, is the recipient of the 2016 Promising Scholar/Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.
The award is given for a significant body of scholarship or a single extraordinary research achievement by a higher education scholar and in recognition of potential for future research. This award may also call attention to significant work in progress that has won praise from senior colleagues and support from foundations or government agencies. The Early Career Award is reserved for individuals who are no more than six years beyond the receipt of the doctoral degree.
Gonzalez Canche joined the faculty of the Institute of Higher Education in August 2012, immediately after earning his doctorate from the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in educational research and a master’s
degree in higher education and quantitative methods from universities in Mexico, his home country.
His research follows two different, yet interconnected paths. The first can be broadly classified into issues of access, persistence and success, with emphasis on institutional sector effects on students’ outcomes. The second focuses on higher education finance, with emphasis on spatial modeling and student college choice and migration.
As a first-generation college student and graduate himself, Gonzalez Canche has a special research interest in factors and policies enhancing underrepresented students’ opportunities for educational success. His findings challenge traditional ideas about the negative impacts of community college enrollment on subsequent educational attainments.
