William R. Doyle

Assistant Professor of Higher Education

Ph.D., Stanford University, 2004

Research Area

Professor Doyle's work investigates the antecedents and outcomes of higher education policy at the state and federal level, and uses theoretical and methodological insights from political science to better understand both higher education politics and policy.

His recent work includes an event history analysis of the adoption of merit aid programs in the American states and a study on the political economy of state appropriations to higher education. His ongoing research projects include a study of the adoption of prepaid tuition and savings plans and a study of roll call votes on higher education issues in the United States Senate, as well as a joint study with John Braxton and Michael McLendon on state and institutional policies that can reduced student departure rates.

Short Biography

Will Doyle is Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Stanford University. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, he held the position of Senior Policy Analyst at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Learn More about William R. Doyle:

Courses Taught | Selected Publications
CV | Media Mentions

Selected Publications

Doyle, W. R. (2009). Does state merit-based aid displace need based aid? Forthcoming in
Research in Higher Education

Doyle, W. R. (2009). Senators’ ideal points for higher education: Assessing the role of
partisanship and change. Forthcoming in the Journal of Higher Education

Doyle, W. R., Delaney, J. A., and Naughton, B. A. (2009) Public institutional aid and state policy:
Compensation or compliance? Research in Higher Education, 50(5):502–523

Doyle, W. R. (2009). The effect of community college enrollment on bachelor’s degree
completion. Economics of Education Review, 28(2):199–206

Doyle, W. R. (2009). Impact of increased academic intensity on transfer rates: An application
of matching estimators to student-unit record data. Research in Higher Education, 50(1):52–72

Doyle, W. R. (2008). Access, equity, and excellence: The competing goals of state student
financial aid. In Baum, S. and McPherson, M., editors, Rethinking Student Aid, pages 160–188.
College Board, New York

Doyle, W. R. (2007). The political economy of redistribution through higher education
subsidies. In Smart, J. C., editor, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, volume
XXII, pages 335–410. Springer, New York

Doyle, W. R. (2007). Public opinion, partisan identification, and higher education policy.
Journal of Higher Education, 78(4):369–401

Doyle, W. R. (2006). Policy adoption of state merit aid programs: An event history analysis.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(3):259–285

Other Academic Work

Doyle, W.R. (2006) "What's in a name?" Change, October/Novemebr

Doyle, W.R. (2006) "Community college transfers and college graduation: Whose choices matter most?" Change, May/June

Doyle, W.R. (2006) "Running twice as fast, just to keep up." Change, March/April

Doyle, W. R., Delaney, J. A., and Naughton, B. A. (2004). "Institutions amplifying state policy." Change, July/August

Doyle, W. R., Delaney, J. A., and Naughton, B. A. (2004). Public institutional aid and state policy: Compensation or compliance? Technical report, Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance

Doyle, W. R. (2003). A report on the field of anthropology in the United States. Technical report, Wenner-Gren Foundation

Callan, P. M., Finney, J. E., and Doyle,W. R. (2001). "Evaluating state higher education performance: Measuring up 2000." Change, 33(2): 10-19

Recent Presentations

Doyle, W. R. (2009). Effect of increased academic intensity on transfer rates: An application of
the generalized propensity score. In Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, San Diego, CA

Doyle, W. R. and Delaney, J. A. (2009). State spending on higher education: Testing the
balance wheel over time. In Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,
San Diego, CA

Delaney, J. A. and Doyle, W. R. (2008). Higher education: A balance wheel for state budgets. In
Association for the Study of Higher Education Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, FL

Doyle, W. R. and Gorbunov, A. V. (2008). The growth of community colleges in the American
states: An application of count models to institutional growth. In American Education Research
Assocation Annual Meeting, New York, NY

Doyle, W. R., Braxton, J. M., and Jones, W. A. (2008). Making the connection between state and
institutional policies for completion. In American Education Research Assocation Annual
Meeting, New York, NY

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