S. Kiersten Ferguson
Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director
Department of Education Policy & Leadership
Education
Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
Contact
3101 University Blvd Ste. 345
Box 750114
Dallas, TX 75275
214-768-4494
skferguson@smu.edu
About
S. Kiersten Ferguson is a clinical associate professor and director of the M.Ed. in Higher Education program in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University. Her scholarly and teaching interests include diversity planning and implementation, bias response teams, campus culture, organizational change, student development theory, equity and access in higher education, and the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and graduate students. She utilizes mixed reality/virtual reality simulations within her courses and is currently conducting research on the pedagogical use of these simulations to strengthen higher education graduate student preparation.
Prior to joining the faculty at SMU, Ferguson was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Campus Diversity and Strategic Initiatives in the comprehensive Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. One of her projects included conducting and analyzing research for a pilot diversity planning process in the College of Fine Arts through a college-wide climate assessment survey, reflective inventory, statistical college profile, as well as focus groups and interviews with administrators, faculty, students, and staff members. Ferguson also served as a Faculty Fellow for Inclusion and Equity in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin, where she assisted the vice president and associate vice president with research on campus-wide diversity initiatives.
Ferguson holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in cultural anthropology and government/international relations. She received her Ph.D. in educational administration with a doctoral portfolio in women’s and gender studies and her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from The University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation focused on the experiences of faculty mentoring undergraduate women students in engineering. She was recognized as a top five finalist in the 2010 national Paul P. Fidler Research Grant competition by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
Selected Presentations and Publications:
Miller, R.A., Guida, T., Smith, S., Ferguson, S.K., & Medina, E. (January 10, 2019). Op-
ed: Fact vs. Fiction on Bias Response Teams - A Balancing Act for Campuses.https://education.uncc.edu/op-ed-fact-vs-fiction-bias-response-teams-balancing-act-campuses
Miller, R.A., Guida, T., Smith, S., Ferguson, S.K., & Medina, E. (2018). A balancing
act: Whose interests do bias response teams serve? Review of Higher Education,
42(1), 313-337.
Miller, R.A., Guida, T., Smith, S., Medina, E., & Ferguson, S.K. (2018). Free
speech tensions: Responding to bias on college and university campuses. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 55(1), 27-39.
Sanders, S.L., & Ferguson, S.K. (2016). Diversity planning tools for diversity and
inclusion committees. Office for Inclusion and Equity, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, The University of Texas at Austin.
Ferguson, S.K., Sanders, S.L., & Smith, S.L. (2016). Inclusive retention toolkit for
faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Office for Inclusion and Equity, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, The University of Texas at Austin.
Ferguson, S.K., Sanders, S.L., & Smith, S.L. (2015). Inclusive search and recruitment
toolkit for faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Office for Inclusion and Equity, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, The University of Texas at Austin.
Vincent, G.J., Sanders, S.L., & Ferguson, S.K. (2012). Transforming lives and
communities: Case study of a diversity and community engagement portfolio at a flagship institution. In C. Clark, K. Fasching-Varner, & M. Brimhall-Vargas (Eds.), Occupying the academy: Just how important is diversity work in higher education? (61-70). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.