Postdoctoral Scholar
Institute of Higher Education
College of Education
University of Florida
College access researcher
Quantitative methodologist
About Me
My Work
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar in the College of Education at the University of Florida and the Informed States research team. My research centers on college access for students from low-income and racially minoritized backgrounds. More specifically, my work examines how the institutions and structures students must navigate influence their chances of successfully enrolling in college. This area of scholarship was inspired by my experiences as a low-income, first-generation college student and college access advisor.
My Experience
Prior to joining the University of Florida and InformEd States, I worked as a Graduate Research Fellow for the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC). I have previously worked as a college access counselor in a Balitmore City public high school and as an academic success coach in a middle school in Hyattsville, MD. I hold a Ph.D. in Education and M.S. in Educational Studies with a graduate certificate in Urban Education from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education as well as a B.S. in Psychology from Morgan State University.
My Recognitions
I am a past recipient of a 2022 American Education Research Association (AERA) Minority Dissertation Fellowship and a 2021 Johns Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative Award for Doctoral Research on Urban Issues. My other honors include the 2022 JHU SOE Jeffery A. Grigg Memorial Award and the 2017 JHU SOE Society of Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Education.
My Research
Colllege access research has often focused on the social and academic factors, such as students’ school experiences, academic achievement, and college-related knowledge, that influence Black, Latinx, and low-income students' relatively lower observed college enrollment rates compared to white students. My primary goal is to broaden the discussion of college access from student-level factors associated with college enrollment to the potential impact that organizational and institutional structures have on college-going outcomes. I do this by examining the institutional structures that students must navigate to access college and how they influence — and may be barriers to — college enrollment for minoritized and low-income students. Uncovering these barriers may lead to systemic changes to improve college enrollment rates for minoritized and low-income students.
Two Current Branches of Work
Institutions
& Structures
How do the organizations and institutions that students encounter in their K-12 school years are associated with whether and where they enroll in college?
Spatial Access
How do student and college's geographic locations and built infrastructures (i.e., road networks, public transportation, etc.) influence college-going for low-income and minoritized students?
Sample of Published Work
College Access in Baltimore:
A Decade of College-Going Among City Schools Graduates
RACHEL E. DURHAM,
ZYRASHAE SMITH-ONYEWU,
CURT CRONISTER, NATHANIEL DEWEY AND MARC L. STEIN
Baltimore College Fact Book: Data Digest of College Access Outcomes
RACHEL E. DURHAM,
ZYRASHAE SMITH,
AND CURT CRONISTER
Let's connect!
Z.Smithonyewu@ufl.edu
