Scholars Zoë Corwin and Royel M. Johnson to serve as Co-directors of the nation’s premier higher education research center.
The USC Pullias Center for Higher Education is pleased to announce new leadership for the Center. USC Research Professor Dr. Zoë Corwin and Associate Professor Dr. Royel M. Johnson have been named as Co-directors, effective Fall 2026.
Under Corwin and Johnson’s leadership, Pullias will deepen its role as the nation’s preeminent research center where rigorous research meets practice. Drs. Corwin and Johnson bring complementary strengths—Corwin in research-practice partnerships with an emphasis on college access and success, and Johnson in research on educational equity and institutional change across the systems that shape students' pathways through higher education. Both will bring their wealth of knowledge, relationships and skills to the Center’s continued focus on excellence and equity in higher education.
Current Director Adrianna Kezar, who has led and co-led the Center for 21 years, will continue on as Director Emeritus until 2028, ensuring a seamless transition. The Center was founded in 1995 by Dr. Bill Tierney and endowed in 2012 as the USC Earl and Pauline Pullias Center for Higher Education. Dr. Julie Posselt served as Co-director with Kezar in 2025-26 and will begin a new role as Louise McBee Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Georgia’s Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education.
“I can’t imagine a more capable and equity-centered team to guide Pullias for the next 30 years,” stated Kezar. “Their combined experience, knowledge and expertise will maintain the Center's national prominence in equity-driven research to guide higher education leaders and scholars."
The Pullias Center and its acclaimed faculty and scholars will continue to address the fundamental questions that define higher education’s future: how institutions across sectors can change to expand access, success and equity, with a particular attention to those on the margins. The Center enjoys relationships with esteemed national partners and funders, including the American Council on Education (ACE), the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Gates Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Lumina Foundation and many more.
"Zoë Corwin and Royel Johnson are rigorous scholars who are equally committed to translating research into real change for students and educators,” noted Pedro Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. “Their partnership brings together deep expertise in access, equity and institutional transformation at a moment when that combination matters more than ever. I'm confident that under their leadership, the Pullias Center will continue to set the standard for equity-driven research in higher education, building on the extraordinary foundation Bill Tierney and Adrianna Kezar built over more than three decades."
“Co-directing the Pullias Center is a tremendous honor,” reflects Corwin. “The Center has a legacy of bringing together incredibly thoughtful scholars, students, practitioners and higher education leaders to improve postsecondary pathways and outcomes—often in innovative ways. I look forward to working with Dr. Johnson to grow the Center’s impact and continue to serve as a hub for dialogue among scholars, practitioners and policymakers.”
“I'm humbled by the opportunity to take on this role at such a pivotal moment for higher education," said Johnson. "I accept this responsibility clear-eyed about the enormous challenges we face—but equally inspired by what's possible when we work across silos, center those at the margins, and do what Pullias has done for three decades: put rigorous evidence in the hands of people positioned to act on it."
USC Rossier Research Professor Zoë Corwin brings deep experience in leading large scale research-practice partnerships to the Co-Director role as the Lead Investigator for the past six years of the large scale, longitudinal, mixed methods Promoting At-promise Student Success (PASS) project. For years she co-led the popular, interactive Digital Tools project that capitalized on games and social media to improve access to college. She is dedicated to research that resonates with target audiences, and prioritizes developing highly-accessible resources to support student access and success. She is co-editor of the books Diversifying Digital Learning: Online Literacy and Educational Opportunity and Postsecondary Play: The Role of Games and Social Media in Higher Education, both published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and Preparing for College: Nine Elements of Effective Outreach with SUNY Press.
Royel M. Johnson is a tenured Associate Professor at the USC Rossier School of Education with a joint appointment in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Johnson's translational scholarship examines how youth-serving systems—including child welfare and the criminal legal system—shape students' pathways into and through college, and how to change those systems. His more than 60 scholarly works consistently appear in the field's top journals, and he has written and edited four books, including From Foster Care to College, winner of NASPA's 2026 Outstanding Publication Award. A field builder, Johnson currently leads RISE, an IES-funded undergraduate research training program; the CJRP Community Regrant Initiative, supporting organizations serving system-impacted youth; the LA County Youth Homeless System Improvement Needs Assessment; and the California Black-Serving Institution research project. Johnson is the outgoing co-editor of AERA's Educational Researcher and the incoming editor-in-chief of The Review of Higher Education, the flagship journal of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
About the Pullias Center
One of the world’s leading research centers on higher education, the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the USC Rossier School of Education advances innovative, scalable solutions to improve higher education outcomes for all students and to enhance the performance of postsecondary institutions. The mission of the Pullias Center is to bring an equity-focused, multidisciplinary perspective to complex social, political and economic issues in higher education. The Center is currently engaged in research projects to improve access, admissions and outcomes for low-income, first-generation students, improve the performance of postsecondary institutions, assess the role of contingent/VITAL faculty, understand how colleges can undergo reform to increase their effectiveness, analyze emerging organizational forms such as for-profit institutions, and assess the educational trajectories of community college students.
