Zoë Corwin

USC Mentoring Award, 2024
USC Rossier School of Education Mentoring Award, 2023

USC Joint Educational Partnership, Community Engaged Teaching and Research Award, 2023

USC Rossier School of Education Mentoring Award, 2017

USC Rossier School of Education PASA Teaching and Mentoring Award, 2015

Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, 2006–2007    

John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, 2006–2007

University of Southern California Dissertation Fellowship, 2006–2007       

James Irvine Foundation Senior Fellow, University of Southern California, 2003–2004      

Sociology Department Fellow, University of Southern California, 2000–2001 & 2007–2008

EDHP 551

EDUE 571

• Corwin, Z. B., Nagbe, M., Goodburn, A., Saunders, K., Furman, H. & Edwards, S. (2026). Email overload: Rethinking university communication with at-promise students. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 63(3), 331-346.
• Hallett, R. E., Corwin, Z. B., Toccoli, J. S., & Kezar, A. (2026). Faculty coordinators as boundary spanners: Connecting instructors with campus resources to support low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation students. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 37(2), 64-84.
• Corwin, Z. B., Kitchen, J., Todorova, R., Rocha, C. (2025). Organizing Strategies for Analyzing Large-scale Longitudinal Study Data. In K. Renn & D. Nguyen (Eds.) Conducting High-Quality Longitudinal Studies of College Students (pp. 81-98). Routledge. 
• Todorova, R., Rocha, C., Corwin, Z. B., & Irwin, L. (2026). Anticipating college support: How messaging affects first generation students’ expectations of college. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 37(2), 159-177.
• Hypolite, L. I., Hallett, R., Kezar, A., Corwin, Z., & Nagbe, M. (2025). Individual and collective learning through professional learning communities: Institutionalizing student success. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 1-14.
• Corwin, Z. B. & Harper, J. N. (2024). Interviews: Processes, strategies and reflections. In the Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences.
• Corwin, Z. B. & Williams, N. S. (2023). Switching stance: What higher education can learn from skateboarders about well-being. Academic Leader.
• Corwin, Z. B. & Clemens, R. F. (2020). Analyzing fieldnotes. In Michael R. M. Ward & S. Delamont (Eds.) Handbook of qualitative research in education (409-419). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Tierney, W. G., Corwin, Z.B, & Ochsner, A.(Eds.) (2018). Diversifying Digital Learning: Online Literacy and Educational Opportunity. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Tierney, W. G., Corwin, Z. B., Fullerton, T. & Ragusa, G., (Eds.). (2017). Postsecondary play: The role of games and social media in higher education. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Tierney, W. G., Corwin, Z. B., & Colyar, J. E. (Eds.). (2004). Preparing for college: Nine elements of effective outreach. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

American Educational Research Association

Association for the Study of Higher Education

Zoë Corwin is a research professor affiliated with Rossier’s Pullias Center for Higher Education. Corwin’s research program examines college access and success for at-promise students, college pathways for students with experiences in foster care, the role of social media and games in postsecondary access and completion, and the impact of skateboarding on communities. She is particularly interested in systemic approaches to improving educational and societal institutions and is strongly committed to working with practitioners and community members, especially youth.

Corwin is co-editor of Diversifying Digital Learning: Online Literacy and Educational Opportunity and Postsecondary Play: The Role of Games and Social Media in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins Press) and Preparing for College: Nine Elements of Effective Outreach (SUNY Press). In addition to academic articles, she has published numerous monographs, briefs, videos, games and learning activities for practitioners and community members. 

Corwin held Haynes and Spencer Foundation dissertation fellowships while working on a qualitative study examining college access and persistence for students with experiences in foster care. Previous to earning her Ph.D. in sociology from USC, Corwin taught middle and high school Spanish and global studies. Corwin holds an MA in Spanish from Saint Louis University in Madrid, a single subject secondary education credential & BCLAD certificate from the California State University, Northridge and a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a founding Board member of the New Los Angeles Charter Middle School.

Current funding. Principal investigator for a $7M+ grant from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation that seeks to better understand at-promise students’ academic and psychosocial outcomes and how programs and institutions create cultures of ecological validation to support at-promise student success, including through the implementation of professional learning communities.

Prior funding. Principal investigator for a grant from USC’s Office of the Provost to determine how to embed mental health services in non-traditional spaces ($22K, renewed for 3 years). Principal investigator for a $119K New Strategic Directions for Research Award from the USC Office of the Provost to study the mental health patterns of marginalized skateboarding youth in Los Angeles. Researcher on an internal USC grant exploring how student athletes experience campus climate and how programs and institutional agents broker resources to support student athletes’ holistic growth. Researcher on a $3.2M NIH grant to determine how to improve campus climate for LGTBQ+ high school students through peer influencers. Advisor to USC’s Iovine and Young Academy on documenting their learning model and preparing for scaling to other contexts. Co-principal investigator for $3.2 million study funded by the U.S. Department of Education First in the World program on implementing college access games. Co-principal investigator on a Bringing Theory to Practice grant exploring the concept of campus as sanctuary. Principal Investigator on a $264K study about skateboarding, schools, and society funded by the Tony Hawk Foundation. Co-principal investigator for $1.5 million study funded by U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences on access and technology. Co-principal investigator for $1 million study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on games, social media and access to college. Senior researcher on $120,000 study funded by the TG Foundation on game-based approaches to promoting college access. Senior researcher on $900,000 study funded by the USC Office of the Provost to explore the potential of games to improve access to postsecondary education. Lead qualitative researcher on $1 million U.S. Department of Education grant assessing the effective parameters of college preparation programs. Senior researcher on $900K Lumina Foundation-sponsored grant examining financial aid practices for students from low-income backgrounds.

Single Subject Teaching Credential (Spanish)

California State University, Northridge

Pullias Center for Higher Education