Carrie Klein

Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Carrie Klein is a Senior Policy Analyst at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), where she works on higher education policy and research initiatives that work to promote and support the values of higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable outcomes. Carrie is a graduate of George Mason University's Higher Education Program (PhD, 2020; MAIS, 2013), where she teaches courses on organizational theory and student affairs administration. Prior to SHEEO, Carrie worked at the Future of Privacy Forum as a Senior Fellow and as a graduate research assistant at George Mason University and as a strategic planning project manager in Mason’s office of the president. The overarching aim of her research is to study interactions between higher education organizations and individuals, with the goal of creating more equitable outcomes for higher education stakeholders - especially students. In 2021, Carrie won the GMU Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning’s Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award.

Carrie's recent research projects have been focused on generating a better understanding of the influences of analytics and surveillance technologies on higher education organizational and individual decision making, policy making, outcomes, and equity. In research and publication, she has partnered with Dr. Jaime Lester, of George Mason University, on a number of projects, including two National Science Foundation grant-funded activities focused on learning analytics use by faculty, advisors, and students and on STEM pedagogy reform through communities of practice; with Dr. Michael Brown, of Iowa State University, on ethical learning analytics policies and practices; and with Dr. Hironao Okahana, of the Council of Graduate Schools, on STEM pipeline and access issues for historically underrepresented students.

Carrie has presented research papers at multiple conferences and written multiple papers and book chapters. Her master’s thesis, a qualitative instrumental study on collaboration across organizational cultural differences on campus, won the 2014 ACPA Gerald Saddlemire Masters Research Award. During her graduate student tenure, she served as Ex-Officio Representative, Senior Representative, and Member-at-Large of American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division J.

Selected Publications

Articles: Peer Reviewed or Refereed Journals

Brown, M.G., & Klein, C. (2020). Whose data? Which rights? Whose power? A policy discourse analysis of student privacy policy documents. Manuscript under revision, The Journal of Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2020.1770045

Klein, C., & Lester, J. (Fall 2019). Learning analytics in community colleges: Guidance for leaders. Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, 26(2), 85-96.

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (2019). Student sensemaking of learning analytics dashboard interventions in Higher Education. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 48(1), 130-154, doi.org/10.1177/0047239519859854

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (2019). Technological barriers and incentives to learning analytics adoption in higher education: Insights from users. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 31, 604-625, doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09210-5

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (2019). Learning analytics tools in higher education: Adoption at the intersection of institutional commitment and individual action. The Review of Higher Education, 42(2), 565-593, doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0007

Okahana, H., Klein, C., & Sowell, R. (2018). STEM Doctoral Completion of Under-Represented Minority Students: Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Participation in the Doctoral Workforce. Innovative Higher Education, 43, 237, doi.org/10.1007/s10755-018-9425-3

Klein, C. (2016). Negotiating cultural boundaries through collaboration: The roles of motivation, advocacy and process. Innovative Higher Education, 42, 253, doi.org/10.1007/s10755-016-9382-7

Edited Books and Monographs

Lester, J., Klein, C., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (Eds.). (2018). Learning analytics in higher education: Current innovations, future potential, and practical applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lester, J., Klein, C., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (2017). Learning analytics in higher education. ASHE Higher Education Report Series, 43(5), 9-133.

Book Chapters

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (in press). Learning analytics for learning assessment: Complexities in efficacy, implementation, and broad use. In K. Webber, & H. Zheng (Eds.), Analytics and data-informed decision making in higher education: Concepts and real-world applications. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Klein, C., & Okahana, H. (2020). Doctoral student degree attainment: How student realities, networks, and perceptions impact timely degree completion. In Tyler, A., Hancock, S., Lewis, C. (Eds.), Seeing The Hidden Minority: Increasing the talent pool through identity, socialization, and mentoring constructs. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Lester, J., Lebron, J., & Klein, C. (2018). Supporting mid-career faculty members: a research and practice agenda. In Baker, V., Lunsford, L. G., Pifer, M., and Terosky, A.L. (Eds.), Success after tenure: Supporting mid-career faculty. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Klein, C., & Hess, R. (2018). Using learning analytics to improve student learning outcomes assessment in higher education: Potential, constraint, & possibility. In Lester, J., Klein, C., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (Eds). Learning analytics in higher education: Current innovations, future potential, and practical applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lester, J., & Klein, C. (2017). Setting the Stage: Broadly Considering Gender Constructions. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2017(179), 11-22.

Lester, J., Kravitz, D., & Klein, C. (2017). Preparing students for workplace diversity: Some research implications. In Roberts, R., Burrus, J. Naemi, B., & Mattern, K. (Eds.), Building better students: Preparation for the workforce, 123-147. Cambridge, MA: Oxford University Press.

Lester, J., & Klein, C. (2014). Promoting community college student transfer: The role of service-learning. In Traver, A. & Katz, Z., (Eds.), Service learning at the American community college (Traver, A. and Katz, Z., Eds). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Klein, C., & Lester, J. (2013). Moving beyond awareness and tolerance: Recommendations and implications for workplace bullying in higher education. In Lester, J., (Ed.), Workplace bullying in higher education. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Book Reviews

Klein, C., & Lester, J. (2019, March 29). Book review. [Review of the book The analytics revolution in higher education: Big data, organizational learning, and student success by Jonathan S. Gagliardi, Amelia Parnell, and Julia Carpenter-Hubin (Eds.)]. Teachers College Record, ID Number 22733.

Klein, C. (2019, Spring). Book review. [Review of the book Community colleges and new universities under neoliberal pressures by J. Levin]. The Review of Higher Education, 42(3), E10-13.

Lester, J., & Klein, C. (2015). Book review. [Review of the book Change leadership in higher education: A practical guide to academic transformation by J. L. Buller]. The Department Chair: A Resource for Academic Administrators, 26(1).

Other Writing

Klein, C. & Brown, M.G. (2019, April). Ethics at the core. Business Officer Magazine. Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).

Presentations

Invited Sessions

Klein, C. (2020, March). The institutional logics of learning analytics in higher education: Implications for organizational and individual outcomes. Invited doctoral consortium presenter. Learning Analytics Knowledge Conference. Frankfurt, Germany.

Klein, C. (2019, April). Analytics in higher education: Complexities in design, implementation, and efficacy. Invited speaker at the Institute of Higher Education. Athens, GA.

Klein, C. (2019, March). Analytics and graduate education: Thinking through opportunities and complexities for improving curriculum development and student outcomes. Invited speaker at the Council of Graduate School’s Research and Policy Forum. Washington, DC.

Symposia

Eddy, P., Xueli, W., Amey, M., Lester, J., Klein, C., & Bragg, D. (2018, April). Faculty development to obtain student success: Learning across National Science Foundation grant projects. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). New York, NY.

Lester, J., Klein, C., Rangwala, H., Johri, A., Karypis, G., DeBoer, J., & Knight, D. (2016, April). Learning analytics in higher education: Exploring big data on campus. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Washington, DC.

Research Paper Sessions

Brown, M. & Klein, C. (2019, April). Whose data? Which rights? Whose power? A policy discourse analysis of student privacy policy documents. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Toronto, Canada.

Klein, C., & Brown, M. (2018, November). A framework for inclusive data justice and care for learning analytics use in higher education. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Tampa, FL.

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri, A. (2017, November). Student sensemaking of learning dashboard interventions: how accuracy, context, personalization, and trust impact interpretation and action. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Houston, TX.

Klein, C., Lester, J., Rangwala, H., & Johri. A. (2017, April). Learning dashboards: How data accuracy, context and trust impact student sensemaking and learning behaviors. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). San Antonio, TX.

Lester, J., & Klein, C. (2015, November). Leveraging learning analytics: Barriers and behaviors related to adoption by faculty and staff. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Denver, CO.

Klein, C., & Lester, J. (2014, April). Negotiating cultural boundaries: How individuals traverse the fragmented terrain of higher education. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Annual Conference. Philadelphia, PA.

Courses Taught

HE722: Organization and Administration in Higher Education (Fall 2020, Instructor of Record)

HE 644: Organization and Administration of Student Affairs (Summer 2020, Instructor of Record)

HE 722: Organization and Administration in Higher Education (Fall 2019, Graduate Co-Instructor)

HE 792: Critical and Contemporary Theory in Higher Education (Fall 2017, Graduate Teaching Assistant)

UNIV100: Introduction to the University (Fall 2016, Instructor of Record)

HE 826: Advanced Institutional Assessment in Higher Education (Fall 2015, Graduate Teaching Assistant)