Racial bias pervades American institutions. Nowhere is it more entrenched than in academic research.

Decades of biases are baked into academic research. Consider the field of higher education and student affairs alone: Historically and even today, white men have been studied and their experiences have become universal for understanding how every other group develops while attending college, said Lori Patton Davis, chair of the Department of Educational Studies and professor of higher education and student affairs. That’s not unique to the education field.

“Any time research situates white people as the default, it’s inherently anti-black and inherently problematic, especially when it’s used to frame other people’s experiences,” said Patton Davis.

Contemporary research, while more inclusive, is far from achieving parity. When built upon those older theories and models, it can also be less representative.  Then, findings marginalize and alienate people of color, resulting in policies dictated by partial truths rooted in predominantly white experiences.

As the college responded to racial injustice in 2020, Patton Davis and Penny Pasque, professor and the college’s director of qualitative methods, have advocated for making research more equitable and more accurate. They have partnered with the Office of Advancement to create a webinar series. Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing, Anti-blackness, Racism and White Supremacy launches Oct. 1 and will feature alumni sharing their expertise.

“Unapologetic educational research moves beyond a standardized way of doing research,” Patton Davis said. It doesn’t sanitize the issues.

“It’s a push for people who are engaging in this work to not be afraid to study these pressing topics — to center minoritized voices, name the issues that we’re seeing and not to feel compelled to run away from them,” Patton Davis said. “So, to do the work, unapologetically.”

The series will examine not only conducting research centered on race, but how to make any research more just and equitable, Pasque said.

“If you’re doing research on STEM education in grade schools or undergraduates in college, how are you unapologetically paying attention to anti-blackness, racism and white supremacy in your research, even if it’s not the topic?” Pasque said. “Or it could be the topic, but how are you conceptualizing research in order to really make that difference?”

“What does it mean to really do strong anti-racist research from beginning to end — designing your research questions, designing your methods, connecting with participants and people in your studies” and even disseminating the findings.

The series will address that arch of unapologetic research by hosting three alumni who have centered their careers on  exploring issues of racism. More sessions are being planned.