A study that is led by UW–Madison’s Nicholas Hillman, “Mapping Rural Colleges and Their Communities,” has received additional media coverage recently.
The study — which previously was spotlighted in Inside Higher Ed — was featured in a Diverse Issues in Higher Education article that is headlined, “Mapping Rural Colleges and Universities.” It was also highlighted in The Daily Yonder — which provides news, commentary, and analysis about and for rural America — in an article that is headlined, “A New Compass For Supporting Rural-Serving Institutions in Higher Education.”
Hillman is a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and the director of the Student Success through Applied Research (SSTAR) lab. The UW–Madison study team also includes Jared Colston and Joshua Bach-Hanson, both doctoral students in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and Audrey Peek, former assistant director for the SSTAR lab and currently a senior government policy and data analyst for the American Council on Education.
Both articles compare the UW–Madison study with a project from the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges (ARRC). Andrew Koricich, the executive director of ARRC, says the two studies are complementary, “like salt and pepper shakers.” In the Diverse Issues article, Hillman says the two studies have upended assumptions around rural communities and colleges.
Speaking of his team’s study, Hillman explains: “When thinking about the location of higher education institutions, it’s important to consider that most students stay close to home to go to college. If we start from that vantage point, the next question is, ‘What college is nearby?’ That’s the whole motivation of this project.”
“I sometimes hear how rural areas are dying, but that’s not really true across the board,” he adds. “There is a lot of variation within what we call ‘rural.’ Some communities are thriving. It’s not just doom-and-gloom.”
The Daily Yonder article notes that the UW–Madison study “paints a different sort of picture — one that is focused on where education is offered in rural communities.”
Hillman and his team found that many rural-serving programs are offered not on traditional campuses, but in corrections and medical facilities, military bases, community agencies, and even private companies and hotels.
“We have no idea how many students participate in these programs,” says Hillman, and he notes that some might not be active anymore. Still, the presence of these programs suggests that institutions may be bringing courses directly to where rural students already go.
To learn more, check out the full articles in Diverse Issues in Higher Education and The Daily Yonder.