Team
Alyssa Stefanese Yates
Alex Chewning Research Fellow
Alyssa serves as the Alex Chewning Research Fellow on uAspire’s research team. In this role, Alyssa primarily supports two of the organization’s grant-funded research studies. One study explores student loan repayment curriculum and interventions. The other study centers students and their families’ experiences with the U.S. Department of Education’s simplified or Better FAFSA process launched in December 2023.
Prior to joining uAspire, Alyssa was a Postdoctoral Associate at the American Council on Education (ACE) and provided research support focused on how federal, state, and institutional policy impact underserved student populations. Alyssa also has experience working on college and university campuses in international student and scholar services, residential education, student leadership and engagement, and admissions. Alyssa’s scholarly work centers on gender in higher education, particularly focused on undergraduate student-mothers and women working in academia. Alyssa earned her Ph.D. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University, her Ed.M. in higher education and student affairs administration from the University at Buffalo, and her B.A. in English literature from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo.
I share uAspire’s commitment to supporting students’ economic mobility through educational pathways, particularly for underrepresented and underserved students. I benefited from the value of higher education, particularly I am the product of public higher education institutions, and I see my work at uAspire as a way to share that opportunity with others. I hope my work at uAspire positively contributes to college access, affordability, and overall more equitable higher education.
Prior to joining uAspire, Alyssa was a Postdoctoral Associate at the American Council on Education (ACE) and provided research support focused on how federal, state, and institutional policy impact underserved student populations. Alyssa also has experience working on college and university campuses in international student and scholar services, residential education, student leadership and engagement, and admissions. Alyssa’s scholarly work centers on gender in higher education, particularly focused on undergraduate student-mothers and women working in academia. Alyssa earned her Ph.D. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University, her Ed.M. in higher education and student affairs administration from the University at Buffalo, and her B.A. in English literature from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo.