About
Ty C. McNamee is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The University of Mississippi. Growing up as a gay, poor and working-class student in rural Wyoming influenced Ty’s research. He studies higher education access, success, and equity for rural students, particularly those from poor and working-class backgrounds and those who are queer, as well as college teaching and learning and faculty development at rural postsecondary institutions. Outside research, Ty co-founded the Rural Education and Healthcare Coalition, a Teachers College, Columbia University network focused on rural education and healthcare programming and research. He also serves in the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Ty holds his EdD in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs from University of Connecticut, and BA in English from University of Wyoming.
Current Work
My research focuses on higher education access, success, and equity for rural students, particularly those from poor and working-class backgrounds and those who are queer. I have already published a book chapter and journal manuscript about the college experiences and attainment of of rural U.S. students. However, for college students, rurality as an identity can also interplay with additional identities of social class and queerness. My dissertation examined the college cultural experiences for rural students from poor and working-class backgrounds; I am expanding on this work to study this academic year the cultural experiences of rural, poor and working-class students at community colleges in Wyoming. A burgeoning area of my scholarship has centered rural, queer students in higher education. I am continuing to expand in this area with a study next academic year on the experiences of rural, queer students at a large university in the South.
Research Area Keyword(s)
Rural students, Poor and working-class students, Queer students, Higher education access and success, Higher education equity