Sasha Smith
Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy, The University of Texas at Austin, expected 2027
M.Ed. in Higher Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2023
B.A. in English, Amherst College, 2014
A.A. in Liberal Arts, Greenfield Community College, 2012
Email: sasha.smith@austin.utexas.edu
M.Ed. in Higher Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2023
B.A. in English, Amherst College, 2014
A.A. in Liberal Arts, Greenfield Community College, 2012
Email: sasha.smith@austin.utexas.edu
Sasha Smith is a doctoral student in the Educational Leadership and Policy program at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the intersectionality of incarcerated college students, and how policymakers and higher education practitioners can better engage with student and programmatic support across the incarceration to higher education pipeline. Additional research interests include community colleges, social-justice oriented and informed student success metrics, and access and equity for historically marginalized, underrepresented, and otherwise "non-traditional" college students. She believes wholeheartedly in the importance of a college education built upon critical thought and discourse and hopes that her work might contribute to a future in which this kind of education isn't a privilege, but a basic human right.
Prior to attending the University of Texas at Austin, Sasha was a graduate assistant and instructor for Student Success Outreach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her primary focus was community building and the creation and dissemination of support resources for first-generation, low-income, and transfer students. Her passion for supporting these students originates from her own educational experience as a low-income, community college transfer student, and she carries this passion forward into every aspect of her current work.
Sasha holds an M.Ed. in Higher Education with a concentration in policy administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a B.A. in English from Amherst College, and an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Greenfield Community College. She is also a proud recipient of a high school equivalency diploma, which she shares here for anyone who has been told that there are fewer than an infinite number of paths to and through higher education.
Prior to attending the University of Texas at Austin, Sasha was a graduate assistant and instructor for Student Success Outreach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her primary focus was community building and the creation and dissemination of support resources for first-generation, low-income, and transfer students. Her passion for supporting these students originates from her own educational experience as a low-income, community college transfer student, and she carries this passion forward into every aspect of her current work.
Sasha holds an M.Ed. in Higher Education with a concentration in policy administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a B.A. in English from Amherst College, and an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Greenfield Community College. She is also a proud recipient of a high school equivalency diploma, which she shares here for anyone who has been told that there are fewer than an infinite number of paths to and through higher education.
