UC Merced Ph.D. Student Receives Prestigious Dissertation Fellowship

Jarrod L. Brown Jr. is the first UC Merced graduate student to be awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation fellowship, supporting his doctoral research in structural inequality in higher education.

The sociology Ph.D. candidate, who is one of 35 recipients selected from nearly 500 applicants, received the fellowship funding from NAEd and the Spencer Foundation for his dissertation, titled “Pathways to Reentry and Transformation in California Higher Education.”

“The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships represent significant investments in the fellows and the future of education research,” said Okhee Lee, chair of the NAEd Professional Development Committee. “These fellowships are more crucial than ever given the recent dramatic declines in education research funding.”

Brown, who was formerly incarcerated, is combining personal experience with rigorous research to focus on how reentry for formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students is shaped in higher education.

“The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation are highly recognized organizations and to be selected by them and have their support to complete my dissertation is a testament to my work and dedication as an emerging sociologist,” Brown said. “Also, the state of higher education right now is constrained and is creating an atmosphere where a lot of us graduate students feel rushed and not sure where we will land; this fellowship affords me the time and space to focus solely on my research and my path forward to my future academic career.”

After graduating in spring 2027, Brown plans to build a career at an institution that values high-quality teaching and impactful research.

“I love research but have a greater passion for teaching sociology,” he said.

A native of San Francisco, Brown moved to the Merced area more than a decade ago and considers it his second home. He earned an associate’s degree in psychology from Merced College, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Stanislaus, and a master’s degree in sociology from UC Merced.

Brown acknowledged the invaluable guidance of his advisor Professor Laura Hamilton and dissertation committee members professors Edward Flores and Daisy Reyes for encouraging him “to aim high and letting me have the freedom to pursue research I felt would be impactful to the field of sociology and education.”