New Alliance for Higher Education Fellowship Program, Fellows, Seek to Advance Higher Education as Fifth Pillar of Democracy

The Alliance for Higher Education has launched the Alliance Fellowship Program and selected the inaugural cohort of seven distinguished scholars. The 12-month fellowship brings together a diverse group of experts to expand research, connect practice and policy, and strengthen the connection and long-term relationship between the nation’s higher education and democracy sectors. 

The Fellowship Program, which officially began in April, is designed to bridge the gap between scholarly research and systems-level change. Fellows will engage across the Alliance’s initiatives, including being embedded in the organization’s Action Hubs working groups that are developing a proactive and forward-looking vision for higher education. They’ll also, as threats and opportunities arise, identify and create field-informed priorities and strategies and co-develop actionable resources—including model policies and governance frameworks—focused on the Alliance’s three core pillars: the freedom to teach, learn, and research without censorship, sector autonomy, and fair opportunity for all.

"Higher education is the fifth pillar of democracy," said Mike Gavin, PhD, President and CEO of the Alliance. "The sector faces accelerating state and federal threats from political actors that censor teaching, learning, and research, limit access to opportunity, and control the independence of colleges and universities. These Fellows bring the scholarly insight necessary to create the knowledge, toolkits, and context to help protect our institutional infrastructure and ensure campuses remain sites of independent thought and open inquiry.”

The 2026-2027 cohort features scholars from across the country whose expertise range from higher education finance, funding, and governance structures to student success, the impact of public regional colleges, access and equity, and public policy:

• Dominique J. Baker is an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware.
• Heather McCambly is an assistant professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh. 
• Denisa Gándara is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin. 
• Cecilia Orphan is an associate professor of higher education at the University of Denver and founding co-director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges. 
• Jackie Pedota is an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. 
• Raquel M. Rall is an associate professor and associate dean of strategic initiatives at the University of California, Riverside. 
• Victor Ray is the F. Wendell Miller an associate professor of sociology at the University of Iowa. 

The Alliance Fellowship Program comes on the heels of the organization’s January launch and continued momentum, including leadership in opposition to proposed federal changes to the System for Award Management (SAM), challenges to tenure in Oklahoma, and attacks on accreditation and sector autonomy. The annual program will engage a new class of fellows each year. Details regarding the application process will be available on the Alliance’s website in early 2027.  

***

About the Alliance for Higher Education

The Alliance for Higher Education is a national organization focused on students’, researchers’, and institutions’ freedom to teach, think, and learn without censorship, criminalization, or intimidation; colleges’ and universities’ ability to self-govern, free from partisan influence; and a fair opportunity for all students, faculty, and staff to be represented and thrive. These core pillars are in service of higher education’s role generating and transferring knowledge for the common good, promoting the free exchange of ideas, and as an essential and powerful vehicle for a multiracial democracy.

‍