Professor of Education Alison Cook-Sather conducts collaborative research and co-authors articles and chapters with students in the College’s Education Department and through the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Teaching and Learning Institute (TLI).
“Some of this work builds on ongoing research in which I am engaged,” explains Cook-Sather, “and some of it emerges in response to student interest.” For instance, Mara Wald (BMC ‘24) proposed and completed a research project focused on faculty belonging and mattering, building on a chapter that Cook-Sather co-authored with Kaylyn Stewart (BMC ‘24) and a faculty and student colleague from Elon University about students’ experiences of mattering. She and Cook-Sather continue to work with the data after Wald’s graduation.Other projects emerge at the intersection of ongoing research and new projects. For instance, “Developing an Inclusive, Student-Led Approach to Scaling Up the Benefits of Pedagogical Partnership for Social Justice in Higher Education” reports on a multi-year research project Cook-Sather undertook with Abhi Suresh ’24 and Dante Nguyen (HC ’25), both of whom completed majors in Education Studies and worked as TLI student consultants.
Suresh was involved in every phase of the project, including conceptualization, data analysis, drafting, and submission.
“I am so incredibly grateful to Professor Alison Cook-Sather for being so supportive, for TLI and the beauty of this partnership that students and faculty do,” says Suresh. “To anyone considering research, you are capable of it and can totally do it!”
Cook-Sather has a long-term commitment to collaborating with students in research and publication. She first co-authored with students in 2001, and of the 39 pieces of work she’s had accepted for publication over the last several years, including 13 articles for peer-reviewed journals, half have been co-authored with students.
Like many students, Suresh continued to work with Cook-Sather even after she graduated.
“Students are invested in the research and writing. They care about it. It matters to them. So, they want to see it through to the end,” says Cook-Sather.
Suresh now works in finance and says her research experience remains invaluable.
“Those strong research skills of searching, verifying and ensuring accuracy have translated into reading and writing on the desk,” says Suresh. “Not to mention that the research itself helped to shape me as a person, playing into those soft skills that are important in corporate settings.”
Another alum who has continued to work with Cook-Sather is Khadijah Seay ‘16, who is co-author of a piece published in 2023 and in 2022 traveled to the Netherlands to co-facilitate a two-day expert meeting with Cook-Sather on pedagogical partnerships in higher education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
About her work with Cook-Sather, Seay says: “Alison has been, and continues to be, a mentor who has cleared the pathway for my continued engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She creates opportunities for research and writing that I probably would have never considered had she not encouraged me to try.”