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Erik Ness Institute of Higher Education University of Georgia 010 Meigs Hall Athens, GA 30602 USA Email: eness@uga.edu |
- Vanderbilt University (PhD in Education Policy, 2006)
- Loyola University Chicago (MA in Comparative and International Education, 2001)
- North Carolina State University (BA, Political Science, 1996)
Areas of Expertise
- Politics of Higher Education
- Policymaking Process
- Higher Education Policy and Finance
- Student Financial Aid
Professional Biography
Dr. Erik C. Ness is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. He served for three years as an Assistant Professor and one year as Coordinator of the Higher Education Management Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 2006, Professor Ness served as Associate Director of the Policy, Planning, & Research Division of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Currently, Professor Ness serves as Chair of the Politics of Education Association Outstanding Dissertation Award Selection Committee, as Co-chair of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Graduate Student Policy Seminar, as a Consulting Editor for Research in Higher Education, and as an Associate of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
Research Interests & Current Projects
Professor Ness’s research interests include the politics of higher education, the public policy process, and the finance and governance of higher education systems. His research focuses on the policy process through which states adopt merit-based scholarship programs with revenue generated from newly-adopted state lotteries. These studies apply theoretical frameworks from the political science and public policy literature to the higher education sector and yield implications both for the conceptual understanding of the policymaking process and for the pressing policy issues related to state-level higher education finance and to college access of under-represented students. Professor Ness’s current research, with funding from the Spencer Foundation, examines the utilization and dissemination of information as states consider the adoption of new postsecondary education policies.
Courses Taught
- ADMPS 2131 – Introduction to Higher Education Administration
- ADMPS 3130 – Higher Education Academic Program Management
- ADMPS 3089 – Special Topics: State Higher Education Policy
Selected Publications
Ness, Erik. (Forthcoming). The Politics of Determining Merit Aid Eligibility Criteria: An Analysis of the Policy Process. Journal of Higher Education.
Ness, Erik; & Mistretta, Molly. (Forthcoming). Merit Aid in North Carolina: A Case Study of a “Non-Event.” Educational Policy (OnlineFirst, doi:10.1177/0895904809339165).
Ness, Erik. (Forthcoming). The Role of Information in the Policy Process: Implications for the Examination of Research Utilization in Higher Education Policy. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. XXV. New York: Springer.
Ness, Erik. (2008). Merit Aid and the Politics of Education. New York: Routledge.
Ness, Erik; & Tucker, Richard. (2008). Eligibility Effects on College Access: Under-represented Student Perceptions of Tennessee’s Merit Aid Program. Research in Higher Education, 49(7): 569–588.
Ness, Erik; & Noland, Brian. (2007). Targeted Merit Aid: Implications of the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 37(1): 7–17.
McLendon, Michael; & Ness, Erik. (2003). The Politics of State Higher Education Governance Reform. Peabody Journal of Education, 78(4): 66–88.
