Stephanie Sowl, PhD

Associate Director of Research Stephanie Sowl, Ph.D., supports the grantmaking team in research and evaluation projects, focusing on documenting effective practices to inform the Foundation’s strategic direction and the postsecondary field broadly. She also measures the Foundation’s progress toward its North Star goal, utilizing federal and state data on postsecondary outcomes, as well as economic and social indicators.

Prior to her current role, Stephanie was a program officer at the Foundation, overseeing projects focused on postsecondary institutional transformation and leading the design and execution of the Rural Impact Initiative. Stephanie began her career as a student worker in the Admissions and Registrar’s Offices, which eventually led to a professional career spanning more than a decade in academic advising, retention coordination, institutional research, data management under a federally funded research grant, and college access and success programming at Arizona State University. She then pursued her doctorate in higher education, researching how college access and enrollment were spatialized across the United States and the role community context played in creating college-going cultures and return mobility in rural areas.

Her research has been published in Research in Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, Innovative Higher Education and Rural Sociology, with “Rural College Graduates: Who Comes Home?” as one of Rural Sociology’s most-cited papers. She was also a fellow at the National Center for Education Statistics Data Institute.

Stephanie holds a Doctor of Philosophy in education with a focus in higher education from Iowa State University. She also holds a Master of Education in education policy, organization and leadership from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics, accounting and business management from Blackburn College.

Why are you working at ECMC Foundation and committed to working toward improving higher education for underserved learners?

As a working-class, first-generation college student from a dilapidated town, my family and I have experienced firsthand how a college education can change the trajectory of our lives. Everyone has not been afforded such an opportunity to enroll and complete college, and I’m working at ECMC Foundation to ensure all learners can earn a postsecondary credential or degree by transforming higher education to be a place everyone belongs.