Stephanie Sowl, PhD, oversees a portfolio of grants focusing on increasing college persistence and completion for students from underserved backgrounds. Stephanie has recently completed her PhD in Higher Education from Iowa State University and her dissertation explored how college access and enrollment were spatialized across the United States and the role community context played in creating college-going cultures in rural areas. She has worked in higher education for more than a decade in areas such as academic advising, retention coordination, data management under a federal research grant, and college access and success programming.

Stephanie holds an MEd in Higher Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and BAs in mathematics, accounting, and business management from Blackburn College.