Dr. Ty McNamee serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher education, teaching classes focused on postsecondary education; conducting research on on higher education topics; and serving in various institutional, state, and national roles.
Research Interests
Dr. McNamee's research interests focus on college access, equity, and success for rural students, especially those who are poor and working-class and those who are queer, as well as faculty development and experiences and college teaching and learning at rural postsecondary institutions.
Biography
Dr. Ty C. McNamee is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Higher Education at The University of Mississippi.
Growing up as a gay, poor and working-class student on a farm/ranch in Wyoming greatly influenced Dr. McNamee's research interests. He uses critical, sociological, and anthropological lenses to conduct qualitative research on 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. For his dissertation, Dr. McNamee studied the cultural experiences of rural, poor and working-class students in higher education environments, for which he won the 2023-2024 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division J Dissertation of the Year. This and other research has been funded by national organizations, such as the ECMC Foundation, College Student Educators International (ACPA), the Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education (NODA), and the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students. Such scholarship has been featured in Peabody Journal of Education, New Directions for Student Services, and Journal of Education Human Resources and will be published in an upcoming book under contract through Routledge.
Outside of his research, Dr. McNamee co-founded and ran the Rural Education and Healthcare Coalition, a Teachers College, Columbia University student, faculty, and staff network focused on rural education and healthcare programming and research. He also actively serves in professional organizations, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA), and College Student Educators International (ACPA).
Dr. McNamee received his doctorate in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2022, his Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Connecticut in 2015, and his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wyoming in 2013. He also completed in 2022 a Graduate Teaching Certificate from Colorado State University.
Publications
This chapter offers insights about the varied social class backgrounds of rural students and how higher education professionals can recognize rural students’ different social class experiences and needs.
Courses Taught
- EDHE 670 Topics in Higher Education
- EDHE 770 Topics in Higher Education
- EDHE 333 Special Topics in Higher Education
- EDFD 609 Cultural Context of Education
- EDFD 709 Cultural Context of Education
- EDRS 704 Foundations of Qualitative Research Methods
Education
B.A. English, University of Wyoming (2013)
M.A. Higher Education and Student Affairs, University of Connecticut (2015)
Ed.D. Higher Education, Teachers College at Columbia University (2022)