Presenter Bio - Dr. Ty McNamee

Ty McNamee is an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies & Evaluation at the University of Kentucky. He completed his doctorate in Higher and Postsecondary Education at Teachers College, Columbia University in 2022 and worked for the past three years as faculty at the University of Mississippi.

Growing up as a working-class student on a farm/ranch in Wyoming greatly influenced Ty’s research interests. He uses critical, sociological, and anthropological lenses to qualitative research on higher education access and equity for rural students, particularly those from poor and working-class backgrounds and those who are queer, as well as college teaching and learning and faculty development at rural postsecondary institutions. His research has been funded by national organizations, such as the Ascendium Foundation, ECMC Foundation, College Student Educators International (ACPA), the Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education (NODA), and the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students.

Outside of his research, Ty co-founded and ran the Rural Education and Healthcare Coalition, a Teachers College, Columbia University student, faculty, and staff network focused on rural education and healthcare programming and research. He also actively serves in professional organizations, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Ty received his Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Connecticut in 2015 and his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wyoming in 2013. He also completed in 2022 a Graduate Teaching Certificate from Colorado State University.