The Doctoral Support Center is pleased to welcome a new staff member to our team. Kevin Collins will serve as the DSC's Institutional Review Board (IRB) adviser. Prior to coming to USC, Kevin worked in K-12 and higher education for the past seven years in a variety of different capacities including as a college administrator, classroom teacher and educational consultant.
Currently, Kevin is also an advanced Ph.D. Student in Higher Education at the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Prior to beginning his tenure at Claremont, Kevin earned an advanced masters degree in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, a masters degree in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and a Bachelors degree in Social Studies Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. He is also a credentialed English and Social Studies teacher in the state of California.
Throughout his graduate career, Kevin’s research interests have included the following: the history of the honors movement in American Higher Education, the founding and rise to prominence of community college honors programs, the ability of community college students as well as graduates of honors program students to gain access to elite public and private colleges and universities, and the special programs available for gifted and talented students in both K-12 and higher education.
Kevin’s dissertation will be a multi-disciplinary analysis that examines the historical origins of the free speech movement in higher education (including academic freedom and speech codes). At the same time he will also investigate the modern legal and public policy implications of the relevant Supreme Court decisions with the intended goal to clarify the constitutional frameworks and tests that have been provided by the courts to deal with issues of free speech on college campuses. It is Kevin’s goal that his dissertation will provide clarity and direction to higher education administrators with regards to the free speech dilemmas as well as how to properly address them when they arise.
