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Who Is Invited to the Party? The Inequitable Awarding of Academic Fellowships

Thu, April 24, 1:45 to 3:15pm MDT (1:45 to 3:15pm MDT), The Colorado Convention Center, Floor: Ballroom Level, Mile High Ballroom 2A and 3A

Abstract

This program explores the transfer, maintenance, and hoarding of social, cultural, and economic capital embedded in the awarding of dissertation and postdoctoral fellowships. Using data from 2014-2014, the conferral of 679 NAEd/Spencer Fellowships was analyzed to explore the relationship between institutional prestige, disciplinary background, and award selection. At the dissertation award level, nine institutions comprised over half of all 376 fellowships awarded in the last decade. These concentrated conferrals highlight what scholars have described as “institutional prestige hierarchies” (Hartlep et al., 2017, p. 672) that create exclusionary access to academic resources and opportunities via mechanisms such as homophily (Hartlep, 2017), trust networks (Posselt, 2018), and radicalized organizations that “legitimate the unequal distribution of resources:” (McCambly & Colyvas, 2022, p. 72).

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