The UW–Madison School of Education is celebrating extraordinary achievement at the 2025 Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) annual conference, where one faculty member and three outstanding doctoral scholars received top honors.
Xueli Wang, the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership, was awarded the prestigious Senior Scholar Award — CSCC’s highest faculty recognition. The award honors her groundbreaking research on transfer pathways and student success in community colleges, along with her exceptional teaching and mentorship.
A testament to her influence, three of Wang’s mentees were also recognized for their scholarly contributions:
- Nicole Contreras-García, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, earned the 2025 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for her impactful research on equitable student outcomes and leadership as a CSCC graduate representative. Her work, published in Teachers College Record and the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, advances support for underserved community college student populations.
- Nicole S. Soulier, director of college access and experience programs at Madison College and member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, was honored with the Richard M. Romano Dissertation of the Year Award. Soulier completed her PhD in 2024 from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. Her dissertation centers Indigenous voices in examining community college access.
- Ashley Gaskew, who completed her PhD in 2022 and is now assistant professor in the Higher Education Administration program at Baruch College (CUNY), was awarded a CSCC Research Grant for her project that examines how faculty and administrators at historically and predominantly Black community colleges survive and thrive.
“These awards demonstrate Wang’s extraordinary mentorship and the strength of our program in preparing scholars whose work makes meaningful impacts on community colleges nationwide,” says Brian Burt, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. “From Wang’s visionary scholarship to these outstanding early-career scholars’ innovative work, we see how rigorous research and caring faculty support transform into meaningful improvements for higher education institutions and their students.”
This impressive recognition — the most awarded to any institution in CSCC’s history — underscores UW–Madison’s leadership in advancing community college research and shaping the next generation of scholars and practitioners.