College Networks Lab

About Us: The College Networks Lab focuses on relational networks, especially college student networks, and the ways that higher education institutions can shape them in ways that may reproduce or interrupt inequality. We are interested in how learning environments, policies, and practices facilitate and constrain opportunities for connection and the educational outcomes of student networks. We study environments such as classrooms (physical and virtual), learning communities, and residence halls. We use primarily social network analysis and mixed methods in our research. The Lab is co-directed by Dr. Rachel Smith and Dr. Michael Brown.


Join the new SNA Higher Ed Network

At our ASHE 2023 symposium, we identified a need for higher ed network researchers to connect with one another. We envision this SNA Higher Ed Network as a supportive community for higher education researchers and practitioners who are using or have an interest in using SNA to meet, share information, ask questions, develop skills, exchange feedback on work in progress, and disseminate network-based higher education research. We anticipate hosting an initial Zoom meeting early in 2024 to gauge interest in various activities the group may pursue.

If you’d like to be on the mailing list to receive updates about the group’s activities, please share your name and email address in this form. (It will only be used for this purpose, and we can remove you at any time at your request.)


Visit with us at ASHE 2023!

Advancing Social Network Analytic Theory and Methods in Research on College Students: Interactive Symposium (Friday, 12:45pm)

We’re talking about our new Campus Ecological Networks Model, in a forthcoming paper as part of the Symposium for the JCSD ACPA 100th Anniversary Special Issue (Saturday, 2pm)


**NEW WORK published in Innovative Higher Education**

Smith, R.A., Brown, M.G., Schiltz, J.J., Sowl, S., Schulz, J.M., Grady, K.A. (2023). The value of interpersonal network continuity for college students in disruptive times. Innovative Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09647-8

Interested in related work using the same data?

Patterns of undergraduate student interpersonal interaction network change during the COVID-19 pandemic (2022) in AERA Open https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211073160

How constructions of interpersonal responsibility shape undergraduate student networks in times of social distancing (2022) in American Behavioral Scientist https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00027642221118291


Interested in Network Analysis for your organization?

We can work with you to meet your needs. In the past we’ve done workshops for:

Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors AdvanceU Session, September 2021

“Mapping Community: Using Social Network Analysis to Document Organizational Engagement”

ACPA Research Methods Workshop, March 2021

“Social Network Analysis in Student Affairs Research and Assessment”


We presented some new work at AERA in April 2023:

Peers in effect: A review of the literature on the use of social network analysis in research on undergraduate student life (Brown, Smith, Tipton, & Leitner)

Dynamic peer network processes and eventual major selection among learning community students exploring majors (Smith, Brown, Tipton, Martinez, & Sowl)


Rural College Graduates: Who Comes Home?

Media coverage of our team’s paper led by Stephanie Sowl, which was published in Rural Sociology in October 2021.


Publications

Undergraduate Student Networks

  • Smith, R.A., Brown, M.G., Schiltz, J.J., Sowl, S., Schulz, J.M., & Grady, K.A. (2023). The value of interpersonal network continuity for college students in disruptive times. Innovative Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09647-8
  • Brown, M.G., Smith, R.A., Reason, R.D., Sowl, S. & Grady, K.A. (2022). How constructions of interpersonal responsibility shape undergraduate student networks in times of social distancing. American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00027642221118291
  • Smith, R.A., Brown, M.G., Grady, K.A., Sowl, S., Schulz, J.M. (2022). Patterns of undergraduate student interpersonal interaction network change during the COVID-19 pandemic. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211073160
  • Brown, M. & Ellison, N. (2021). Inequality in access to information about college: How low-income first-year college students’ use social media for seeking and sharing information about college. In. Handbook of Digital Inequality. Hargittai, Eszter, (Ed.), Edward Elgar Press. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788116572.00018
  • Brown, M. (2019). The push and pull of social gravity: How peer relationships form around an undergraduate science lecture. Review of Higher Education. 43:2, p. 603-632. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0112
  • Brown, M. and DeMonbrun, R.M. (2019) Who gets helped? The opportunity structure of the physics classroom, peer instruction, and perceptions of helping. Journal of College Science Teaching. 49:2, p. 36-44. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26901366
  • Smith, R.A.  (2018). Connective segregation:  Residential learning communities as networks of engagement. The Review of Higher Education, 42(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2018.0032
  • Brown, M.G., DeMonbrun, R. M. & Teasley, S. (2018). Conceptualizing co-enrollment: Accounting for student experiences across the curriculum. Proceedings of the 8th annual Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference. Melbourne, AU. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170358.3170366
  • Brown, M., Wohn, D.Y., and Ellison, N. (2016). Without a map: College access and the online practices of youth from low-income communities. Computers & Education. 92-93. 104-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.10.001
  • Smith, R.A. (2015). Magnets and seekers:  A network perspective on academic integration. The Journal of Higher Education, 86(6), 893-992. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2015.11777388
  • Ellison, N., Wohn, D.Y., and Brown, M. (July/August 2014). Social Media and College Access. ACM Interactions.  Vol. XXI.4. New York, NY: ACM. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2630008
  • Smith, R..A. (2011). Learning community transitions in the first year:  A case study of academic and social network change. Journal of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, 23(2), 13-31.

Network Theory, Measurement, & Assessment

  • Smith, R.A., & Tinto, V. (2022). Unraveling student engagement: Exploring its relational and longitudinal character. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/15210251221098172
  • Smith, R.A., & Vonhoff, C. (2019). Problematizing community:  A network approach to conceptualizing campus communities. Journal of College Student Development, 60(3), 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2019.0025

Topic & Citation Networks in Higher Education

  • Smith, R.A., & Brown, M.B. (2020). Far beyond postsecondary: Longitudinal analyses of topic and citation networks in the field of higher education studies. The Review of Higher Education, 44(2), 237-264. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2020.0040 Article & data also here: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/edu_pubs/174/
  • Smith, R.A. (2019). Structuring the conversations:  Using co-citation networks to trace 60 years of the Journal of College Student Development. Journal of College Student Development, 60(6), 695-717. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2019.0063
  • Brown, M. (2015). Mapping the Study of Blended Learning in Engineering Education. Proceedings of the 122nd meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education. June 2015. Seattle, WA.

Research Collaborative

Rachel Smith

Assistant Professor | Higher Education & Student Affairs | rsmith2@iastate.edu

Michael Brown

Associate Professor | Higher Education & Student Affairs | brownm@iastate.edu

Jennifer Tipton

Doctoral Student & Graduate Assistant | Higher Education

Alumni:

Kevin Grady, Gabby Leitner, Monica Martinez, Justin Sabrowsky, Jessica Schulz, Stephanie Sowl

Contact us: collegenetlab@iastate.edu


Twitter: @CollegeNetLab

Facebook: @CollegeNetLab