Cecilia Marie Orphan
Associate Professor
What I do
I am interested in understanding how higher education contributes to a strong, functioning democracy and advances racial and social equity.Specialization(s)
Public Policy and Finance, Organizational Governance and Academic Administration, Regional Public Universities, Higher Education and Democracy, Rural Serving Postsecondary Institutions, and the Privatization of Higher Education
Professional Biography
Cecilia Orphan, Ph.D., is an award winning education researcher and leader and sought after expert and public speaker. She is an associate professor of Higher Education at the University of Denver and Founding Co-Director for the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges. In April, 2022, Cecilia was a TEDxMileHigh and her talk, “What makes a ‘good college’ - and why it matters” has received over 1.3 million views.
Cecilia's’s research has garnered over $1 million in research funding by a variety of foundations including the Spencer Foundation, the Ascendium Education Group, Arnold Ventures, the ECMC Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. She has been quoted by CBS, NBC, Slate Magazine, ProPublica, The Chronicle for Higher Education, InsideHigherEd, Open Campus, NPR’s Code Switch, and Newsy, among other media outlets. She has published her research in leading education journals including The Review of Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, and Higher Education, as well as in public-facing venues including Third Way and the Scholars Strategy Network to influence both policy and scholarly debates.
Cecilia's's research agenda is informed by her experiences as a working class, first-generation college student who received maximum Pell grants to attend college. She is personally familiar with the transformative nature of access institutions having attended Linn Benton Community College and Portland State University, a regional public university in Oregon. Simply put, attending these institutions changed the trajectory of her life and she believes in the power of access institutions to promote racial and economic justice and democracy. Cecilia holds a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Portland State University. From 2006-2011, she directed the American Democracy Project, a national civic engagement initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Honors include the Helen C. Bailey Alumni Award (University of Pennsylvania), the Crimson and Gold Faculty Award (University of Denver), and AASCU’s John Saltmarsh Award.
Cecilia's’s research has garnered over $1 million in research funding by a variety of foundations including the Spencer Foundation, the Ascendium Education Group, Arnold Ventures, the ECMC Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. She has been quoted by CBS, NBC, Slate Magazine, ProPublica, The Chronicle for Higher Education, InsideHigherEd, Open Campus, NPR’s Code Switch, and Newsy, among other media outlets. She has published her research in leading education journals including The Review of Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, and Higher Education, as well as in public-facing venues including Third Way and the Scholars Strategy Network to influence both policy and scholarly debates.
Cecilia's's research agenda is informed by her experiences as a working class, first-generation college student who received maximum Pell grants to attend college. She is personally familiar with the transformative nature of access institutions having attended Linn Benton Community College and Portland State University, a regional public university in Oregon. Simply put, attending these institutions changed the trajectory of her life and she believes in the power of access institutions to promote racial and economic justice and democracy. Cecilia holds a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Portland State University. From 2006-2011, she directed the American Democracy Project, a national civic engagement initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Honors include the Helen C. Bailey Alumni Award (University of Pennsylvania), the Crimson and Gold Faculty Award (University of Denver), and AASCU’s John Saltmarsh Award.
Degree(s)
- Certificate, Hybrid 3D Workshop, University of Denver, 2016
- Ph.D., Higher Education , University of Pennsylvania, 2015
- BA, Political Science, Portland State University, 2006
Professional Affiliations
- American Educational Research Association
- Association for the Study of Higher Education
Media Sources
Research
Cecilia's research agenda broadly interrogates the following question: What are higher education's purposes in a democratic society? Dr. Orphan’s research is comprised of two strands that examine this question: 1) the societal purposes, contributions, institutional functioning, governance, and administrative strategies of regional public (comprehensive) universities and rural serving postsecondary institutions; and 2) how policy discourses and agendas for higher education shape the system's public purposes and contributions.
Areas of Research
Public Policy and Finance
Organizational Governance and Academic Administration
Regional Public Universities
Higher Education and Democracy
Rural Serving Postsecondary Institutions
and the Privatization of Higher Education
Key Projects
- How Regional Public Universities Provide Value: State Policy Mechanisms and Institutional Characteristics that Foster Student Success
- Ending Data Invisibility: Identifying and Defining Regional Public Universities
- Understanding Higher Education in Rural America: Developing a Typology of Rural-Serving Institutions and Examining their Community Contributions
Featured Publications
. (2021). Unlocking opportunity through broadly accessible institutions. New York: Routledge.
Presentations
. (2023). Through the maze: Redistributing knowledge. Think for Tomorrow Stage. Budapest, Hungary: Sziget Festival.
. (2024). Humanizing Education. Great Ideas Summit. Boise ID: Boise State University.
. (2022). What Makes a "Good College" - And Why it Matters. TEDxMileHigh. Denver, CO: TED.com.
Awards
- Helen C. Bailey Alumni Award, University of Pennsylvania
- John Saltmarsh Award for Emerging Leaders in Civic Engagement , AASCU
- Graduate Career Faculty Champion, Career & Professional Development
