Alanna Gillis, Research

Research

Research Interests

Higher education, stratification, social class, gender, race/class/gender, family, civic engagement/ volunteering, social psychology, social justice, teaching and learning, mixed methods (qualitative and statistics)

Book Project: How to Succeed in College: A Research-Based Approach for Smart, Non-Rich Students

Premise: Written from my perspective as a former student at a selective university, an instructor at a large research university, and now a professor and advisor at a small liberal arts college, I use my research to advise students how to succeed in college. Following cohorts of diverse college students at UNC-Chapel Hill and St Lawrence University, this book will be written for a general audience about the process of making it through selective colleges well positioned with post-graduation trajectories. Many students (and their parents) don't know what to expect in college these days and much of the general advice is not helpful for the diverse students who attend college today. Students need advice tailored to their real identities, whether that be as a low income student, a student of color, a woman planning to enter STEM, a student who doesn’t drink alcohol, and many others. This book provides step by step advice through the process of college and beyond so that all students, not just the wealthy, can get the best out of their college experience.
Research questions:
- What barriers do students face in succeeding in college? How do those barriers vary based on student identities and backgrounds?
- How should students approach the major decision points of college including choosing a college, choosing a major, developing post-grad plans, and gaining relevant experiences?
- How should students navigate the social scene at college? How can they find success even if they don't feel like they fit in?
- How do university structures sometimes hinder student success? What strategies can students use to overcome those structural difficulties?
- Why are wealthy students better positioned for post-grad opportunities? How can non-wealthy students try to catch up?
Design: Yearly longitudinal in-depth interviews with 50 students at UNC-Chapel Hill (Fall 2018-Fall 2024) and 30 students at St Lawrence University (Fall 2020-Summer 2025)
Book Proposal in preparation

Moving Beyond the Gender Binary in Greek Organizations?

Case Study: A nonbinary student joined a sorority at St Lawrence University with widespread support and took on a leadership position. Nine months later they had their membership voided. This research tackles the before and after of this story.
Research questions:
- What barriers prevent nonbinary and gender diverse student participation in Greek life?
- What changes would be needed to enable Greek organizations to move beyond the gender binary?
Research design at St Lawrence University:
- Part 1: Before the Void, Spring 2023: interviews with students in Greek life and campus staff; content analysis of policy documents
- Part 2: After the Void, Spring 2025: interviews with student leaders in Greek organizations; survey of current student members in Greek organizations
Manuscript in preparation

Pre-Health Professions & STEM Study Abroad Benefits and Inequalities

Research questions:
- How do health related international study abroad programs contribute to inequality among pre-health professions students?
- What pathways lead students into participating in these types of study abroad programs? What different barriers made applying to and participating in the program easier or harder for some students than others?
- How do students’ experiences within these study abroad programs differ by social characteristics, such as race, class, or gender?
Design: European Study Abroad case study
- 31 interviews with students
- 14 interviews with faculty/staff
- 23 observation hours in classrooms, labs, and student downtime
Conference presentations:
- 2024 Anna Wilkerson and Alanna Gillis. “Abroad Experiences Steepen the Ladder of Inequality Pre-Health Students Have to Climb.” Southern Sociological Society. New Orleans, LA.
- 2024 Sophia Brigante and Alanna Gillis. “Pathways, Barriers, and Inequalities in STEM Study Abroad Experiences.” Southern Sociological Society. New Orleans, LA.
Manuscript(s) in preparation

The Covid-19 Pandemic's Impact on Inequality of College Student Trajectories at Two Universities

Research questions:
- How do institutional policies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic differentially impact students?
- How does the timing of the pandemic in a student's college experience differentially impact their trajectory?
- How does the pandemic generally, and university structures in particular, differentially impact students based on race, social class, and gender?
Design: Yearly longitudinal in-depth interviews with 50 students at UNC-Chapel Hill (Fall 2018-Fall 2024) and 30 students at St Lawrence University (Fall 2020-Summer 2025)
Publications from project:
- Gillis, Alanna and Elena van Stee. 2024. “The Pact: Exploring the Racialized Consequences of Colorblind COVID-19 Campus Policies.” Socius 10: 1-18.
- Gillis, Alanna, Renee Ryberg, Myklynn LaPoint, and Sara McCauley. 2024. “The COVID-19 Emergency Remote Transition on College Campus: Inequitable College Student Experiences and Policy Responses” Journal of Postsecondary Student Success 3(2): 56-80.

Major Questions: Reproducing Inequality through College Major Decisions

Research questions: How do students choose their college majors? How does this process reproduce inequality by race, class, and gender?
Design: Longitudinal surveys (n=1,1,00) and in-depth interviews (n=50) with first-year college students at UNC-Chapel Hill
Major findings:
- Student orientations to choosing a major differ by race, class, and gender and these orientations change over time as students learn new schemas for choosing a major (i.e. based on career, intellectual interests, or match with student skillset)
- Students often get stuck in ill-fitting majors because they feel compelled to choose a major before they have much (correct) knowledge about what that major means and entails
- Students feel uncertainty during parts of the major choosing process, and these times of uncertainty are critical junctures for inequality reproduction
Publications from project:
- Gillis, Alanna, and Renee Ryberg. 2021. “Is Choosing a Major Choosing a Career or Interesting Courses?: Stability and Change in Orientations to College Majors.” Journal of Postsecondary Student Success 1(2): 46-71.
- Gillis, Alanna. “Choosing a Major is Not an Individual Choice: How Institutions, Interactions, and Identity Processes Shape College Major Decisions.” Working paper available: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/7as8y/
- Gillis, Alanna. “Beyond Diverging Preferences and Chilly Climate: Why Gender and Racial Segregation in College Majors Increase During the First Year of College.” Working paper available: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/dsght/

2010 - present

Research

Research Interests

Higher education, stratification, social class, gender, race/class/gender, family, civic engagement/ volunteering, social psychology, social justice, teaching and learning, mixed methods (qualitative and statistics)

Book Project: How to Succeed in College: A Research-Based Approach for Smart, Non-Rich Students

Moving Beyond the Gender Binary in Greek Organizations?

Pre-Health Professions & STEM Study Abroad Benefits and Inequalities

The Covid-19 Pandemic's Impact on Inequality of College Student Trajectories at Two Universities

Major Questions: Reproducing Inequality through College Major Decisions

Research questions: How do students choose their college majors? How does this process reproduce inequality by race, class, and gender?

Design: Longitudinal surveys (n=1,1,00) and in-depth interviews (n=50) with first-year college students at UNC-Chapel Hill

Major findings:

Student orientations to choosing a major differ by race, class, and gender and these orientations change over time as students learn new schemas for choosing a major (i.e. based on career, intellectual interests, or match with student skillset)

Students often get stuck in ill-fitting majors because ​they feel compelled to choose a major before they have much (correct) knowledge about what that major means and entails

Students feel uncertainty during parts of the major choosing process, and these times of uncertainty are critical junctures for inequality reproduction

Publications from project:

Gillis, Alanna, and Renee Ryberg. 2021. “Is Choosing a Major Choosing a Career or Interesting Courses?: Stability and Change in Orientations to College Majors.” Journal of Postsecondary Student Success 1(2): 46-71.​

Students often get stuck in ill-fitting majors because they feel compelled to choose a major before they have much (correct) knowledge about what that major means and entails

Gillis, Alanna, and Renee Ryberg. 2021. “Is Choosing a Major Choosing a Career or Interesting Courses?: Stability and Change in Orientations to College Majors.” Journal of Postsecondary Student Success 1(2): 46-71.