back

Dr. D-L Stewart headshot

Darin Michael Lazarus Stewart

Professor; Dept. Chair - HED

darin.stewart@du.edu

What I do

I am an educator, scholar, member of the university community, and local community servant. Through those roles, I seek to positively affect the life chances and possibilities of minoritized communities in U.S. postsecondary education and beyond.

At the University of Denver, my teaching often engages these same issues in addition to coursework focused on research methods and postsecondary educational policy. My research and teaching are informed by critical and post-structural frameworks such as Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, queer theory, Queer of Color Critique, and ableism. In doing so, in company with bell hooks (z''l), I seek to amplify the voices, experiences, and knowledges of those on the margins, bringing them to the center of learning, scholarship, and praxis.

I devote myself extensively to university, professional, and community service, often aligned with my areas of expertise. I also work collaboratively with units, institutions, and other organizations who are striving to realize greater manifestations of equity and justice in their communities, systems, and processes.

Specialization(s)

Philosophy and history of higher education, institutional transformation, equity, justice, higher education

Professional Biography

I am originally from New York City, NY where I grew up in the Village of Harlem. I moved to the Midwest for college and received my Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Kalamazoo College (Michigan) in Sociology & Anthropology with a concentration in Economics. Thereafter I moved south to Ohio where I first worked professionally in multicultural student services before earning my Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from The Ohio State University in Higher Education and Student Affairs and Educational Administration and Higher Education, respectively. I joined the academy as a faculty member upon completing my doctorate, beginning as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at my graduate alma mater (2001-2002) before joining the tenure-track at Ohio University (Athens) where I was Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Counseling and Higher Education Department from 2002-2005. I then joined the faculty at Bowling Green State University, serving there from 2005-2017. I would then move to Colorado State University (2017-2021) as Professor in the School of Education and Co-Coordinator of the Student Affairs in Higher Education Program and core faculty in Higher Education Leadership. I joined the Higher Education Department in the Morgridge College of Education at DU in Fall 2021 as Professor and Department Chair.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Educational Administration and Higher Education, The Ohio State University, 2001
  • MA, Higher Education and Student Affairs, The Ohio State University, 1998
  • BA, Sociology/Anthropology, Kalamazoo College , 1995

Professional Affiliations

  • Association for the Study of Higher Education
  • ACPA-College Student Educators International
  • American Educational Research Association
  • NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Research

My work is grounded in critical and post-structural frameworks that support imagining futures that sustain and cultivate the learning, growth, and success of minoritized groups in U.S. higher education. I seek to elevate recognition of the intersectionality of both lived experiences and interlocking systems of oppression. My research is reflected in three themes: the philosophy and history of higher education, institutional transformation toward greater equity and justice, and higher education (both institutions and as a social structure) as a crucible and liminal space.

My research projects have focused on identity development and faith for Black college students; minoritized students' self-reported non-cognitive gains in college; and, narratives of Black college students between 1945 and 1965 in Midwestern historically white small private colleges. I am currently preparing two manuscripts related to a collective case study of how institutional differences inform the work of multicultural student services professionals, including how urban postsecondary institutions engage with their local communities. I am also in the midst of another case study research project focused on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in STEM units as understood through their strategic plans.

My scholarship also has included conceptual writing about trans students in cisgender-centered postsecondary environments; religion, faith, spirituality, and secularity; the philosophical foundations of U.S. higher education; qualitative research methods; and, issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in U.S. higher education. These research and scholarly foci have produced four books, 97 articles and chapters, as well as 181 invited and refereed presentations, and receiving funding from 12 internal and external grants.

Areas of Research

history
philosophy
higher education
gender
race
sexuality
faith
intersectionality
research methodology
Diversity
equity
inclusion
justice

Featured Publications

Steward, D. -L. M. (2021). Against higher education: Instruments of insurrection . In B. C. Williams, D. D. Squire, & F. A. Tuitt (Eds.), Campus rebellions and plantation politics: Power, diversity, and the emancipatory struggle in higher education (pp. 315-320). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2019). An inconvenient truth about "progress:" An analysis of the promises and perils of research on campus diversity initiatives. Review of Higher Education, 42, 173-198.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2017). Experiences of Black Collegians in U.S. Northern Private Colleges: A Narrative History 1945-1965. Palgrave Macmillian.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2011). Multicultural Student Services: Building Bridges, Re-visioning Community. In . American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Books and Media.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (Ed.). (2019). Rethinking College Student Development Theory Through Critical Frameworks. Stylus.

Presentations

Stewart, D. M. (2021). A college's responsibility to its community in the face of a litany of Black death. Professional Issues Conference. Virtual: Henry Ford College.
Stewart, D. M. (2020). Addressing anti-Blackness, racism, and white supremacy. Unapologetic Educational Research: QualLab Webinar Series. Virtual: College of Education and Human Ecology/The Ohio State University.
Stewart, D. M. (2020). Advancing equity and justice. Bastian Lecture. Virtual: Westminster College (UT).
Stewart, D. M. (2020). Lessons from the past for transforming higher education today. Cynthia S. Johnson Institute Plenary. Virtual: California State University, Long Beach.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2024). Emotionally expensive: An examination of multicultural student services work. ACPA24 Chicago: Reflect. Evolve. Act.. Chicago, IL: ACPA-College Student Educators, International.
Stewart, D. M. (2020). Episode 8. Critical Policy Conversations Sei. Virtual: Dr. Erik Felix.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2024). Agents of Change: Preparing for New Realities in Higher Education. Transformative Conversations. Virtual: Gardner Institute.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2024). Being Unapologetic About Advancing Racially Equitable Education. ACE-Up Community of Practice. Virtual: ACE-Up.
Stewart, D. -L. M. (2024). Educational research possibilities for race, gender equity, and decolonization through a trans lens. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA: American Educational Research Association.

Awards

  • Contribution to Knowledge Award, ACPA-College Student Educators, International
  • Senior Scholar, ACPA-College Student Educators International
  • Career Achievement Award, The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology
  • World's Top 2% Scientists List, Stanford University