The Association for the Study of Higher Education has announced the creation of a new institute, involving several existing research centers at universities, to study the challenges faced by black, Hispanic, and Native American students in higher education.

The new Institute on Equity Research Methods and Critical Policy Analysis will be run by a collaborative involving the association, the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at the University of Houston Law Center. It will be housed at the urban-education center at Southern Cal.

The Ford Foundation has provided a $200,000 planning grant for the institute, and may offer it additional support down the road. One focus of the institute will be to nurture junior faculty members devoted to research on minority students in higher education. —Peter Schmidt