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About Walter Allen
The recipient of numerous honors, including the AERA Fellows Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2009, Allen came to UCLA in 1988 as a Professor of Sociology after serving on the faculty of the University of Michigan from 1979 to 1991. He is the Allan Murray Cartter Professor of Higher Education at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS) and is the 2011-12 Fellow of the Sudikoff Family Institute of Education & New Media, an initiative for the public engagement of GSE&IS faculty. Research reports and other material issued by Distinguished Professor Walter Allen and the Choices Project can be found in the Archives. |
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California's African American and Latino high school students have historically experienced persistently low college attendance and graduation rates. The Choices Project research study seeks to address this problem by examining how students are affected during key educational transition points from their earliest years in elementary school on through college and post-graduate study.
The educational transition points – K-12 experiences and pre-collegiate academic preparation, high school-to-college transition, and undergraduate experiences and graduate-professional outcomes – form the nexus of Choices Project research. By identifying and documenting differences in school/campus climates across various institutional contexts, researchers hope to improve access, diversity, and achievement in higher education for African American, Latino, and other disadvantaged students.
Choices Project researchers study commonalties between African American and Latino students' educational experiences in California and those in other states. The research also compares the educational experiences of Asian and white students and marginalized students in international contexts. Lessons learned will help develop policy alternatives to improve college opportunities and educational outcomes.
The Choices Project research initiative was established in 1998 by Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Education Walter R. Allen, who serves as its Director. His research focuses on inequalities found within American society and examines disparities of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class across key areas of experience such as school, health, work, and family life. By first identifying discriminated individuals, groups, and institutions within broad settings, Allen's work investigates social inequality across various contexts and outcomes over time. He not only seeks to better understand the circumstances and factors that create and perpetuate inequality, he also identifies strategies and different means of adaptation by which some individuals or segments of marginalized populations succeed. This comparative perspective has both a national and international focus. Allen is keenly interested in the kinds of opportunities that individuals make use of and the resources they draw from as they confront life's challenges in pursuit of their goals. |
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