Tinto Vita
Tinto Vita
EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, California
(Spring 2008).
Senior Scholar, The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, Washington,
D.C. (2004-present).
Led a reorganization of the higher education program and the development of a learning
community model of graduate education for our masters degree program in student
Affairs (see http://www.soeweb.syr.edu)
Led a reorganization of the research methods curriculum and the development of a year
long required doctoral research methods course employing problem-based learning
strategies.
Visiting Lecturer, Physics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1965-1967)
2
Theory and research on student persistence and attainment in higher education and on curricular
and pedagogical innovations designed to enhance student attainment, especially for low-income,
underrepresented, and under-prepared students in urban two and four-year colleges.
Program and policy efforts, state, national, and international, to enhance college graduation and
close the gap between different groups in society. Actively involved with TRIO programs and the
Council for Opportunity in Education, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher
Education, Pathways to College Network, Lumina Foundation for Education, National Learning
Communities Project, the states of Colorado, New Hampshire, New York, and Texas, Dutch
Ministry of Higher Education, and the European Access Network.
Current research includes a longitudinal study of the long-term impact of learning communities
on the success of academically under-prepared, low-income students in urban two and four-year
colleges.
SELECTED PUBLICATONS
2008 Learning Better Together: The Impact of Learning Communities on the Persistence of
Low-Income Students (with Catherine Engstrom). Opportunity Matters. 1: 5-21.
Access without Support is Not Opportunity (with Catherine Engstrom). Change. 40:46-
51.
2006 Moving From Theory to Action: Building a Model of Institutional Action for Student
Success (with Brian Pusser). National Postsecondary Education Cooperative.
Washington D.C: U.S. Department of Education.
Research and Practice of Student Retention: What Next? College Student Retention:
Research, Theory, and Practice. 8: 1-20
Moving from Theory to Action in College Student Retention: Formula for Student Success.
(A. Seidman, ed.), Westport: Greenwood Publishing.
2004 Student Retention and Graduation: Facing the Truth, Living with the Consequences.
Occasional Paper No. 1. Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.
Washington, D.C..
3
2003 Establishing Conditions for Student Success. In Improving Completion Rates Among
Disadvantaged Students. (L. Thomas, M. Cooper, & J. Quinn, eds.) Stoke on Trent:
Trentham Books.
2002 Establishing Conditions for Student Success: Lessons Learned in the United States
in Under-Privileged but Not Under-Achieving (J. Astley, ed.), London: Trentham Books.
2001 Student Retention Higher Education in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Santa
Barbara: ABC-CLIO Publishers.
2000 Looking at Universities Through a Different Lens About Campus. 4,6 (January-February):
Taking Retention Seriously: Rethinking the First Year of College NACADA Journal, 19,2
(Fall). 5-10.
Reflections on the State of Research: What Next? in Access Denied: Race, Ethnicity, and
the Scientific Enterprise. London: Oxford University Press.
"Linking Learning and Leaving: Exploring the Role of the College Classroom in Student
Departure. In J. Braxton (ed.), Reworking the Student Departure Puzzle (pp. 81-94).
Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press.
1999 The Role of Financial Aid in the Persistence of Doctoral Students. (with Beatriz Chu
Clewell). A final report for the National Science Foundation. Washington, D.C..
Enhancing Learning Via Community Thought and Action. 13,1 (Spring): 53-59.
Working Together for Service Learning (with C. Engstrom) About Campus. 2,3
(July/August):10-16.
1996 "Learning Communities and the Reconstruction of the First Year of College" Planning
for Higher Education. 25 (1): 1-7.
"Persistence and the First Year in the Community College" in J. Gardner and J. Hankin
(Eds.). Promoting New Student Success in Community Colleges (pp. 97-10). Columbia:
The Center for the Study of the Freshman Year Experience, The University of South
Carolina.
1994 Building Learning Communities for New College Students (with A. Goodsell Love and P.
Russo). A publication of the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and
Assessment, Pennsylvania State University.
"Discovering the Sources of Student Success." In D. Floyd (Ed.), From Vision to Reality:
Student Affairs Agenda in the '90s. Iowa City: American College Testing Program.
"Freshman Interest Groups and the First Year Experience: Constructing Student
Communities in a Large University." (with A. Goodsell) The Journal of the Freshman Year
Experience 6 (1): 7-28.
"Collaborative Learning and New College Students." (with A. Goodsell and P. Russo)
Collaborative Learning and College Teaching, 4 (1): 1-3.
1993 Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition (2nd. edition).
Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
"Building Community Among New College Students." (with A. Goodsell and P. Russo)
Liberal Education, 79 (4): 16-21.
1992 Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education (with A. Goodsell and M.
Maher), National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment,
Pennsylvania State University.
1991 "Student Attrition in Higher Education." In B. Clark and G. Neave (Eds.),The Encyclopedia
of Higher Education. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
1990 "The Principles of Effective Retention." The Journal of the Freshman Year Experience, 2
(1): 35-48.
1987 Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
1986 "Theories of Student Departure Revisited." In J. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook
of Theory and Research, Volume II. New York: Agathon Press.
"Retention: An Admissions Concern." (with Diane Lebo Wallace) College and University, 61
(Summer): 290-293.
1985 "Dropping Out and Other Forms of Withdrawal from College." L.Noel (Ed.), Improving
Student Retention. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
"Studies of College Choice: A Review." (with Diane Lebo Wallace) American Journal of
Education, 94 (November).
1984 "Patterns of Educational Sponsorship to Work: A Study of Modes of Early Attainment from
College to Professional Work." Work and Occupations, 11 (August): 309-330.
1982 "Limits of Theory and Practice in Student Attrition." Journal of Higher Education, 53
(December): 687-700.
1980 "College Origins and Patterns of Status Attainment." Sociology of Work and Occupations, 7
(November): 457-486.
1979 "The Social Patterning of Deviant Behaviors in Schools." In K. Baker and R. Rubel (Eds.),
Violence and Crime in Schools, Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, pp. 151-166.
"Perceptions of Occupational Structure and Career Aspirations among the New Turkish
Elite." International Journal of Middle East Studies, 8 (July): 329-338.
1976 Assessment of a National Study of Special Service Programs in Higher Education. A report
prepared for the Office of Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation, U.S. Office of Education,
Washington, D.C.
1975 "Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research", Review of
Educational Research, 65 (Winter): 89-125.
1974 The Effectiveness of Secondary and Higher Education Intervention Programs: A Critical
Review of the Research. A report prepared for the Office of Planning, Budgeting and
Evaluation, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C..
1973 Dropout in Higher Education: A Review of Recent Research. A Report prepared for the
Office of Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C..
1972 Where Colleges Are and Who Attends: Effects of Accessibility on College Attendance (with
C.A. Anderson and Mary Jean Bowman) A general report prepared for the Carnegie
commission on Higher Education. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
7
1971 Accessibility of Colleges as a Factor in the Rates and Selectivity of College Attendance. An
unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, Department of Education.
Chicago: Illinois.
A variety of papers, symposia and invited speeches presented at various national association
meetings and conferences on specific themes. The former include the American Association of
Colleges and University, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers,
American Educational Research Association, American Association of Higher Education,
Association of College Personnel Administrators, Association for Institutional Research,
Association for the Study of Higher Education, Comparative and International Education Society,
the Education Commission for the States, National Association of Academic Advising, and the
National Association of Developmental Education. The latter include presentations at the Council
for Opportunity in Education, the National College Access Network (NCAN), the National Institute
for Staff & Organizational Development, the National Institute of Education, the National Science
Foundation, the American College Testing Program, the Educational Testing Service, and the
American University of Beirut, University of Auckland (NZ), University of Amsterdam (NL),
Hacettepe University, Turkey, Massey University (NZ), Melbourne University (AU), University of
Wellington (NZ), Monash University (AU), University of Oslo (NO), Autonomous University of the
Yucatan (MX), University of Puerto Rico and the InterAmerican Unversity of Puerto Rico.
Professional Activities
A variety of professional and consulting activities with various colleges and universities, Federal
and State agencies, national associations, foundations and research firms on a range of issues
related to higher education, student retention, and issue of equity. Some of these are listed below:
2008 Keynote Speaker, Dutch Ministry of Education, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Keynote Speaker, Annual Institute for the Chief Academic Officers, Council of
Independent Colleges, Seattle, Washington.
Advisory Board, United Negro College Funds Institute for Capacity Building.
Keynote Speaker, Wayne State University Conference on Engaging the Urban Student.
Senior Scholar, Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education, Washington D.C.
2003 Senior Scholar, Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education, Washington D.C..
Chair, Advisory Board, New York State Policy Committee on Higher Education.
Keynote Speaker, National TRIO Program Training Conference, Los Angeles, California.
Keynote Speaker, Annual conference of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational
Development, Austin, Texas.
Chair, Advisory Board, New York State Policy Committee on Higher Education.
2000 Consultant, State of Texas Statewide Initiative to Improve College Graduation Rates.
1996 Advisory Board, Southern Education Foundation-Pew Charitable Trusts Black Colleges
Project.
10
Keynote Speaker, The Institute for College Student Values, Florida State University,
Tallahassee.
1995 Consultant, American Association of State Colleges and Universities. National Project on
Student Retention.
Keynote Speaker, The Annual Conference of the Freshman Year Experience, The
University of South Carolina. Columbia.
Keynote Speaker, The Inaugural Pacific Rim Conference of the First Year Experience,
Brisbane, Australia.
1994 Consultant, American Association of State Colleges and Universities. National Project
on Student Retention.
1993 Consultant, Pew Charitable Trusts and The Southern Education Foundation Project to
enhance retention at the historically Black colleges and universities.
Consultant, Sloan Foundation and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
project.
1992 Consultant, National Opinion Research Center, National Study of Student Attainment
Beyond High School.
Advisory Board, American Association of State College and Universities and Student Loan
Marketing Association national effort to enhance student achievement.
1991 Project Director, National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment,
A consortium of five universities funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, Washington D.C..
Advisory Board, National Study of Title III Programs, Westat Inc., Washington D.C..
1990 Keynote Speaker, Annual Conference of the Annual Conference of the Freshman Year
Experience, Columbia, South Carolina.
Invited Speaker, University of California System Retreat for Institutional Research Officers,
Asilomar, California.
Advisory Board, National Institute for Independent Colleges and Universities. Advisor on a
national study of student retention.
Advisory Board, National Center for the Study of the Freshman Year Experience, University
of South Carolina.
1987 Consultant, New Jersey Department of Higher Education. Consultant and keynote speaker
at a State sponsored workshop on student retention in higher education.
Consultant, Council of Higher Education for the State of Virginia. Consultant and keynote
speaker at a State sponsored workshop on Black student retention.
Consultant, State University of New York, Faculty Committee on Student Life. A workshop
on faculty impact upon student retention in the State University of New York.
1983 Consultant, American College Testing Program. Research consultant on the study and
treatment of student attrition.
1980 Consultant, National Institute of Education and the American Federation of Teachers.
Research consultant on a national study of teacher stress.
1978 Consultant, Research Triangle Institute. Research consultant on several national studies
of intervention programs in higher education.
1975 Consultant, Office of Budgeting, Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Office of Education.
Consultant on a variety of research projects involving the study of retention and intervention
in higher education.
Chair, University Task Force on Assessment. University committee charged with the
development of campus-wide assessments of classroom teaching and learning. Modeled after
the Harvard Assessment Seminar, the committees task was to encourage and support a
diversity of faculty projects aimed as assessing student learning, improving classroom
instruction, and enhancing student learning.
13
Member, University Task Force on Minority Student Retention. A two-year long study of minority
student retention at Syracuse University. leading to a series of policy recommendations for
university action.
Responsible for the development and teaching of the Doctoral Research Core Course in the
School of Education. A two-semester course required of doctoral students in the School of
Education
Teaching of The American School, an undergraduate course for education majors that focuses
on the ways in which schools influence student learning at the elementary and secondary level.
Specific emphasis on issues of equity and diversity and the successes and failures of recent
policies to enhance equity in education. Course employs cooperative learning strategies and
multimedia projects as a way of analyzing the relationship between culture and schooling.
Responsible for an assessment of the quality of research training of doctoral students in the
School of Education. That assessment has resulted in major changes in the research training of
doctoral students in the School of Education. Some of those changes include the development of
a doctoral research core, the institution of a required research apprenticeship, and the inclusion
of qualitative as well as quantitative research methods in the preparation of future educators.
2008 Academic Leadership Award, Council of Independent Colleges, Chief Academic Affairs
Officers.
2007 Distinguished Fellow of the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education
Association.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. A three-year $140,000 grant to extend the reach
of the Lumina Foundation for Education grant to community colleges in California.
2002 Lumina Foundation for Education. A three-year, $956,000 grant, for a national study
of developmental education learning communities in two and four-year colleges and
universities serving low-income students.
1996 National Science Foundation. Research grant to study doctoral persistence among
majority and minority graduate students in different fields of study.
1992 Graduate Record Examination Board. Seed grant to obtain funding of a six year study of
doctoral persistence in the United States.
15
1990 National Center for Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Dept. of Education. A $6.2 million Center
consisting of a consortium of five universities.
1986 Exxon Foundation. Grant to The University of Chicago Press to support the publication of
book on student dropout from higher education.
Syracuse University, Senate Research Committee Grant for pilot study of student
retention in two-year colleges.
1980 Syracuse University, Senate Research Committee Grant for study of patterns of
occupational attainment in specific organizations.
1979 National Institute of Education. Two-year grant for the study of patterns of college
attendance and occupational attainment among different occupational groups.
1977 Syracuse University, Senate Research Committee grant for pilot study of patterns of
college sponsorship to work.