Dr. Peter Riley Bahr, Associate Professor at University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education
Dr. Peter Riley Bahr’s entire academic career has been dedicated to research related to community colleges, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, adult students, labor market returns to college, career and technical education (CTE), and noncredit/continuing education. His work at the state level has influenced policy and change across the country, and he is often called upon by the private sector for his expertise.
Dr. Peter Riley Bahr is a nationally recognized scholar and expert on community colleges, student outcomes, and economic mobility. His research focuses on the role of community colleges and other nonselective or minimally selective public postsecondary institutions in creating and advancing educational and economic opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, older/adult/post-traditional students, and marginalized students. Central concerns of his research are identifying obstacles to academic progress, strategies to build students’ momentum toward graduation, and factors that contribute to maximizing students’ labor market outcomes and return on investment. A distinguishing feature of much of his research is close collaboration with state policymakers to ensure that the work is directly informing policy development aimed at achieving educational attainment goals, improving workforce opportunities, and strengthening state economic vitality and growth.
In addition, Dr. Bahr has curated a team of top education policy researchers from across the country, leading them as they examine topics such as educational opportunities for women in prison; how the level of STEM community college courses at which women and minorities are placed in impacts their educational and career trajectories; differences by age and gender in the relationships between early academic momentum and college completion; and how noncredit versus for-credit college credentials impacts adult labor market gains.
