Dr.

Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur Associate Dean for Institutional Diversity, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont Colleges (Beginning July 23, 2012)
http://www.hmc.edu/

Dr. Sumun L. Pendakur Director, Asian Pacific American Student Services (APASS) UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur 1

Dissertation of the Year Award (2011) THE SEARCH FOR TRANSFORMATIVE AGENTS: THE COUNTERINSTITUTIONAL POSITIONING OF FACULTY AND STAFF AT AN ELITE UNIVERSITY By Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur

[Dissertation Chair: Professor Reynaldo Baca, Ph.D.] The purpose of this study is to empirically ground Stanton-Salazars (2010) theoretical trope of the empowerment agent through a life history study of subjects identified as empowerment agents.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AWARD
http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/pendakur_wins_dissertation_of_the_year_award.html

USC STUDENT AFFAIRS

http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/whats_happening/spotlight/sumun_pendakur_2009.html

A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION December 2010 Copyright 2010 Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur

(View & download dissertation on Stanton-Salazar SCRIBD website.)

Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur

Dissertation also available at: http://tinyurl.com/42ztp3t

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to empirically ground Stanton-Salazars (2010) theoretical trope of the empowerment agent through a life history study of subjects identified as empowerment agents. Freireian empowerment agents leverage their social capital network to offer institutional support to low-status students while helping the students clarify and construct an action-oriented, social justice-centered, critically conscious worldview. This study explores the subjects belief systems, experiential worldview development, praxis, institutional and internal obstacles, and forms of resistance and renewal. In our inequitable context, higher education institutions have not adopted practices and cultures to fully enable all students to succeed (Kezar, 2011). My study locates empowerment agents as key forms of resistance against institutional repression and hegemony, as well as against the deficit positioning of low-status students. By examining an under-researched population, I am able to offer both practitioner- and researcher-oriented implications. In addition, the findings of my study complicate the theoretical world of the empowerment agent, allowing new doors of study to open Related Research: Kevin Eagan, Felisha A. Herrera, Juan C. Garibay, Sylvia Hurtado, Mitchell Chang (May 24, 2011) Becoming STEM Protgs: Factors Predicting the Access and Development of Meaningful Faculty-Student Relationships. University of California, Los Angeles. Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum.
http://heri.ucla.edu/nih/downloads/AIR%202011%20%20Eagan,%20Herrera,%20Garibay,%20Hurtado,%2 0Chang%20-%20Becoming%20STEM%20Proteges.pdf

Bensimon, E. M. & Dowd. A. (2009). Dimensions of the Transfer Choice Gap: Experiences of Latina and Latino Students Who Navigated Transfer Pathways. Harvard Educational Review,79 (4) 632-659. Dowd, Alicia C., Bensimon, Estela M., Malcom, Lindsey E., & Stanton-Salazar, Ricardo D. (2011). Pathways to STEM Bachelors and Graduate Degrees for Hispanic Students and the Role of Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Center for Urban Education, University of Southern California.
http://cue.usc.edu/tools/NSF_STEP_022610_FNL_USC_CUE_Dowd.pdf

Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur

Stanton-Salazar SCRIBD Website: http://www.scribd.com/rstanton_salazar/documents

Sumun Lakshmi Pendakur