Anne-Barrie Hunter

Anne-Barrie Hunter is co-director of and senior professional researcher with E&ER. Since 1991, she has collaborated with group members to conduct qualitative research and evaluations of STEM initiatives seeking to improve college science education. Beginning with her work on the research study by Seymour and Hewitt that produced Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences (1997), she has also played a major role in evaluations for ChemConnections, the College Board, Project Kaleidoscope, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory internship program.

Most recently, she served as lead researcher and analyst of a large, eight-year qualitative study to establish and explore the benefits and costs of undergraduate research (UR). Based on results from this study, she collaborated to develop URSSA (Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment), a research-grounded, web-based instrument for UR program evaluation.

Hunter has also cooperated on and conducted evaluations of several UR programs, including Louisiana State University?s LA-STEM Scholars program, Carleton College?s Off-Campus Marine Biology Seminar, the Society of Physics Students internship program, the University of Colorado?s Biological Sciences Initiative, and the SOARS program (UCAR, Boulder). Aside from publications on undergraduate research and its contributions to students? education, she is also co-author (with Seymour) of Talking about Disability: The Education and Work Experiences of Graduates and Undergraduates with Disabilities, in Science, Mathematics and Engineering (1998), the first study of STEM students with disabilities. She has taught a senior-level undergraduate course in qualitative research methods in the Women and Gender Studies Department at the University of Colorado.

Current research interests include issues of women and underrepresented groups in STEM education and career pathways, faculty and graduate student professional development, and organizational change and development in higher education. Hunter has an M.A. in journalism and mass communication research and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development at Fielding Graduate University.

Professional Preparation/Awards

1985 B.A. History: U.S. Diplomatic History/U.S.-Soviet Relations, University of Colorado, Boulder. Honors program; Dean’s List.

1999 M.A. Journalism and Mass Communication Research, University of Colorado, Boulder. Thesis topic: Evaluation research on community-based media literacy programs using critical pedagogy as a strategy for social change.

1997-1998 Nonnie Lan Academic Merit Scholarship, University of Colorado, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

2008-present Fielding Graduate University, Human and Organizational Systems, Ph.D. program

Appointments

2007-present. Co-director and Senior Professional Research Assistant, Ethnography & Evaluation Research (E&ER), an independent research unit specializing in qualitative research focusing on: college science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) teaching and education innovation; issues of gender, race and ethnicity in science and IT programs, and; factors influencing choice for or against science career pathways. Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS), University of Colorado, Boulder.

1999 – 2007. Senior Professional Research Assistant, Ethnography & Evaluation Research

1991-1999. Professional Research Assistant, Ethnography & Evaluation Research.