Anne McDaniel

Assistant Professor
School of Education

October 1, 2012

“I’m interested in the ways in which culture interacts with social structures.”

Anne McDaniel is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. McDaniel received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Ohio State University in 2011. Prior to joining UCI’s School of Education, she was a postdoctoral research scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University. At Irvine, she is teaching courses and advising students in the Educational Policy and Social Context specialization.

“I’m looking forward to teaching “Origins, Purposes, and Central Issues in K–12 Education” this year, and beginning to collaborate with students and faculty in the School of Education as well as across campus.”

Dr. McDaniel is a sociologist of education who researches gender and racial inequalities in higher education in the United States and throughout the world. Her research primarily focuses on gender inequalities in higher education, from major choice to college completion. To investigate why women earn more college degrees than men but remain underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields, Dr. McDaniel examines how cultural norms regarding gender and structural features of higher education institutions and the labor market shape men’s and women’s educational expectations and experiences.

I’m interested in the ways in which culture interacts with social structures-from how the school system is set up to the availability of certain types of jobs in the labor market-to shape the decisions young people make about their education.

In recent research, published in the journal Demography and awarded the IPUMS Research Award for best article from the Minnesota Population Center, Dr. McDaniel examined how the female-favorable gender gap in college completion differs among African Americans and whites. The study finds that the female advantage in college completion among blacks is not a new phenomenon, but dates back to at least the 1940s and is due to the stronger incentives for employment for black women.

Currently, Dr. McDaniel is working on several projects related to the female-favorable gender gap in college completion in both industrialized and developing countries. Additionally, she is studying whether the expansion of higher education throughout Europe is changing the returns to a college degree.

Dr. McDaniel has presented her research widely at conferences in the U.S. and internationally, including at meetings of the American Sociological Association, International Sociological Association, and Population Association of America. Her work has been published is several peer-reviewed journals, including the Annual Review of SociologyComparative Education ReviewSociology Compass, and International Journal of Sociology.

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