Enhancing awareness of critical issues related to education and information studies, The Sudikoff Family Institute utilizes the popular press to disseminate GSE&IS scholarship to policy makers, educators, and the general public.  Sudikoff Fellows are selected from the GSE&IS faculty to write opinion pieces and articles and deliver interviews that convey an informed perspective drawn from the Fellow’s work.  First established in 2002 to help advance the work of a single Fellow during the course of a twelve-month term, The Sudikoff Family Institute has reorganized to enable two or three Fellows to receive support each year.  The Institute serves as a liaison between Fellows and the greater public, providing communications support and expertise. 

Writing is the primary form of engagement for Fellows, who propose a special project for development during the course of their term.  Creating a book for public readership, writing articles and commentaries for newspapers and magazines, contributing to online journals and websites, and producing policy briefs for legislatures are some of the ways in which Fellows extend the reach of their work to serve and inform the public. 

The Sudikoff Family Institute has named two distinguished GSE&IS faculty members as Fellows for 2007 – 08:  Associate Professor of Education Linda J. Sax and Assistant Professor of Education José Luis Santos.

Associate Professor Linda J. Sax, who studies gender differences in college student development, was awarded a Sudikoff Fellowship for her book, The Gender Gap in College, to be published by Jossey-Bass in 2008.  Looking to convey her work to a broad readership, the book serves as a resource for researchers as well as practitioners in higher education developing special programs and services for college students.  In an essay written for The Chronicle Review, a companion piece to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Professor Sax addressed the issue of how women college students – who after decades of inequities in college access are now enrolled in greater numbers than men nationwide – still face key challenges in higher education.

Assistant Professor José Luis Santos studies the economic factors involved in higher education.  His work places particular emphasis on issues affecting students from underrepresented groups, such as how finances influence equity and access, the burden of student debt, and the importance of linking tuition-setting policies with need-based aid policies.  He was awarded a Sudikoff Fellowship for his proposal to develop a series of policy briefs that grow out of GSE&IS research to inform legislators in Sacramento and Washington, and which will address critical issues in higher education. .