Dr. Bradley E. Cox is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in The Florida State University’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Broadly invested in research that aims to understand student success and improve student outcomes, I undertake research projects designed to illuminate what I call “actionable intersections” affecting college students’ development, persistence, and graduation. My work is “actionable” in that it yields direct implications for research, policy, and practice. Moreover, my work engages the complexity of student success by examining points of “intersection” between multiple stakeholders (e.g., various student populations, faculty members, and institutional policy-makers), drawing upon theories and models from a variety of fields, and employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In doing so, I attempt to blaze new trails for future scholars by 1) shedding light on important issues overlooked by many within higher education and 2) translating abstract or complex phenomena into actionable insights. Specifically, my future as a scholar of higher education will be defined by my efforts to explain and improve the systemic, institutional, and personal conditions that shape college experiences and outcomes for students on the autism spectrum.

Dr. Cox's recent research related to autism in higher education has earned nearly $20,000 in internal grant funding and has generated an AERA paper that is now under review for publication and an award-winning FLASHA poster.

Dr. Cox has been awarded over $200,000 for the research project Linking Institutional Policies to Student Success (LIPSS). The LIPSS project seeks to identify specific institution-wide policies that can be leveraged to increase college student engagement – a key predictor of student grades and persistence that is especially beneficial to underrepresented and academically under-prepared students. Dr. Cox's research has also been supported by a grant from the NASPA Foundation.

In 2011, Dr. Cox received the inaugural Outstanding Faculty Research Award from the Council on Research in Education in the College of Education at FSU. He was also named an Emerging Scholar by ACPA: College Educators International for the 2013-14 school year.

In 2012, Dr. Cox received a Transformation Through Teaching award from Florida State University’s Spiritual Life Project. Dr. Cox teaches courses such as Theories of Student Development and The American College Student.

Previously, he served as The Coordinator of Research and Public Information at the University of South Carolina’s National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Dr. Cox received his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010.

Recent Publications (Complete CV)
† Indicates work with graduate students

†Cox, B. E., McIntosh, K. L., Reason, R. D., and Terenzini, P. T. (In Press). Working with missing data in higher education research: A primer and real-world example. Review of Higher Education.

Cox, B. E. (2012). A developmental typology of faculty-student interaction outside of the classroom. In Understanding College Student Experiences and Outcomes: A Typological Approach (S. Hu and S. Li, Editors). New Directions for Institutional Research. (p., 49-66). doi: 10.1002/ir

Tobolowsky, B. T. & Cox, B. E. (2012). Rationalizing neglect: An Institutional Response to Transfer Students. Journal of Higher Education, 83(3), 389-410. doi: 10.1353/jhe.2012.0021.

†Cox, B. E., McIntosh, K. L., Reason, R. D., & Terenzini, P. T. (2011). A culture of teaching: Policy, perception, and practice in higher education. Research in Higher Education, 52(8), 808-829. doi: 10.1007/s11162-011-9223-6.

†Cox, B. E., McIntosh, K. L., Terenzini, P. T., Reason, R. D., & Lutovsky Quaye, B. R. (2010). Pedagogical signals of faculty approachability: Factors shaping faculty-student interaction outside the classroom. Research in Higher Education, 51(8), 767-788. doi: 10.1007/s11162-010-9178-z.

†Reason, R. D., Cox, B. E., Lutovsky Quaye, B. R., & Terenzini, P. T. (2010). Faculty and institutional factors that promote student encounters with difference in first-year courses. Review of Higher Education, 33(3), 391-414. doi:10.1353/rhe.0.0137.