Tom DePaola
Cohort: 2015
USC Provost's PhD Fellowship
Concentration
Higher Education
Research Interest
Higher education and political economy of cities; contingent labor and unionization; urban restructuring and gentrification; the public good mission of the university; marginalization and mobility among underserved student populations; critical pedagogy; broad-based resistance and solidarity movements.
Research Center
Tom DePaola is a graduate research assistant and provost's fellow in urban education working with Dr. Adrianna Kezar. Prior to joining the Rossier, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and literature from Purchase College (SUNY) and spent five years working as an adjunct instructor and administrator at Bronx Community College (CUNY). Tom spends a lot of time thinking about cities and his primary research interests center on issues of land and labor in higher education.
Experience
Professional Experience:
- Research Assistant, Pullias Center for Higher Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, August 2015 - Present
- Provost's Fellow in Urban Education Policy, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, August 2015 - Present
- Internship Coordinator, Bronx Community College, Criminal Justice Program, New York, NY, January 2012 - July 2015
- Activity Coordinator, Bronx Community College, Division of Academic Affairs, New York, NY, Septermber 2011 - July 2015
- Adjunct Instructor, Bronx Community College, First-Year Program, New York, NY, September 2012 - May 2015
- Member:
- American Educational Research Association (AERA) Divs. G+J
- Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
Selected Publications
Kezar, A., DePaola, T. & Scott, D. (2019). The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rima, B. Rodriguez, C. & DePaola, T. (2018) Supplementing the ‘college experience’ with program-based learning communities. Community College Journal of Research and Practice
Kezar, A. & DePaola, T. (2018). “Neoliberalism and faculty roles: The politics of academic work.” In: Handbook on the Politics of Higher Education (2018). B. Cantwell, H. Coates, & R. King, (Eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing.
DePaola, T. & Kezar, A. (2018). “The changing face of faculty at research universities.” In: Hidden and Visible: The Role and Impact of Contingent Faculty in Higher Education Institutions (Winter 2018). H. Garcia, K. Nehls, & J. McNaughtan. (Eds.) New Directions for Institutional Research, Jossey-Bass.
Kezar, A. & DePaola, T. (2018). “Understanding the need for unions: Contingent faculty working conditions and the relationship to student learning.” In: Professors in the Gig Economy: The Unionization of Adjunct Faculty in America. K. Tolley. (Ed.) Johns Hopkins University Press.
Posselt, J., Vanegas, K., Ward, J., Hernandez, T., & DePaola, T. (2017). Emerging issues In federal higher education law: A brief guide for administrators and faculty. Pullias Center for Hiugher Education, USC.
DePaola, T. (2014). Collaborating for social justice through service-learning. New Directions for Community Colleges, 165, 37-47.