Dr. Esa Syeed’s research published in Contexts

What does a college students’ graduation cap/mortarboard tell us about one’s educational journey? Dr. Esa Syeed’s recent research, published in Contexts, analyzes precisely this question by providing a visual analysis of graduation caps worn by graduating college students, particularly those caps worn by first-generation, working-class students of color. 

Excerpt from Dr. Syeed’s article “Thinking Caps”:

The fact that students on our campus see their graduation caps as a 100 square-inch canvas may reflect who they are and their journey through higher education. Students of color make up nearly 80% of the Long Beach campus, and the New York Times recently named it among the nation’s top ten “working class colleges” that successfully move large proportions of lower-income students into higher earning income brackets. Perhaps for these students, personalized caps signify more than just individual academic achievement.

Click here to read more about Dr. Syeed’s timely research featured in Contexts.