Dr. Tara Hudson is Associate Professor in the Higher Education Administration program at Kent State University. Dr. Hudson’s research examines the relationship between interactional diversity and college students’ prosocial learning and development. Her dissertation, which received the 2015 Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), developed a model of how college students develop and sustain interracial friendships. In 2018 she received a collaborating scholar award from the IDEALS research study to examine college students’ friendships across worldview identity differences. Prior to becoming a faculty member, Dr. Hudson worked as a higher education professional for 12 years, including five years as an academic advisor. Dr. Hudson’s theoretical, conceptual, and practitioner-based expertise regarding college students’ diverse friendships and prosocial development guides the design and theoretical framing of this study. Her previous research on college students’ friendships across social boundaries also informs data generation methods and provides the theoretical sensitivity necessary for translating project findings into meaningful educational interventions.
Dr. Alyssa Rockenbach is Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University. Her interdisciplinary research centers religious diversity and marginalization in higher education and college student friendships. Dr. Rockenbach is a respected voice in and beyond the field of education; she has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications. As co-principal investigator of the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), which tracked thousands of college students attending 122 U.S. colleges and universities over four years (2015-2019), Dr. Rockenbach has cultivated in-depth expertise regarding how educational experiences, including friendships, affect college students’ capacity to engage and cooperate across social differences. Given her co-leadership of the IDEALS study, Dr. Rockenbach is prepared to draw on the momentum generated by IDEALS and build on its success in meaningful ways. IDEALS was the first study of its kind to reveal the transformative potential of religiously diverse collegiate environments, educational experiences, and peer relationships in college students’ lives. The power of friendships to inspire prejudice reduction and positive attitude change emerged as a key finding in the study and also raised critical unanswered questions about how to create the conditions conducive to friendship formation across lines of difference—including political differences. Dr. Rockenbach has also had considerable success reaching the public with her work. Since 2015, IDEALS has been featured more than 50 times in a wide range of media outlets, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Christian Science Monitor, and The Washington Post.
