Dr. Regina Deil-Amen is both a scholar of and strong advocate for college access. She is an expert in the sociology of education, higher education, and qualitative research methodologies and a proponent of collaborative, participatory, and mixed-methods research. Her research has centered on institutional processes at community colleges, as well as students’ transition into four-year colleges/universities with an emphasis on the most effective practices to engage students in ways that lead to improved success outcomes. More recently, Dr. Deil-Amen was Principal Investigator of the Pima-UAZ STEM Bridge Project, funded by a $4.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The project provided scholarships, mentoring, guidance, and programmatic support for 3 cohorts of nearly 100 of Pima Community College students with aspirations to transfer to University of Arizona to complete a bachelor’s degree in a STEM major. The ongoing effort has had a 90% STEM degree completion rate.

In addition to her book Dr. Deil-Amen has authored nearly 70 publications, with a majority being articles in well-respected academic journals, including the Journal of Higher Education, Sociology of Education, Teachers College Record, and Education Sciences. She has also published multiple reports and policy briefs, served on a range of advisory and editorial boards and research review panels, and chaired 30 dissertations. Her work is highly regarded and has been cited over 5600 times. As Interim Dean, she leads with creativity, transparency, integrity, collective decision-making, organizational responsiveness, and process improvement, with a strong commitment to sustaining the college's high quality teacher and professional preparation degree programs, while innovating and expanding in ways that support growth, expand student opportunities, and meet Arizona's workforce needs.