Darris Means

Professor of Educational Leadership and Dean’s Fellow for Rural Education

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Email: dmeans@clemson.edu
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Educational Background

Ph.D. Educational Research and Policy Analysis (Concentration: Higher Education)
North Carolina State University 2014

M.Ed. Counselor Education (Concentration: Student Affairs)
Clemson University 2007

B.A. Political Science and Sociology
Elon University 2005

Profile

Dr. Darris R. Means is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Dean’s Fellow for Rural Education in the College of Education at Clemson University. Prior to Clemson University, Darris was on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Georgia. Prior to becoming a faculty member, he was an administrator for a college access program, Elon University’s Elon Academy, working with high school and college students from low-income families and/or students with no family history of college to support their postsecondary education enrollment, persistence, and graduation. Darris uses critical, participatory, and visual methodologies and methods to examine and address spatial, racial, and class inequities. Darris' research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation, and his scholarship appears in Review of Higher Education, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Innovative Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Teachers College Record, The Rural Educator, and Journal of Research in Rural Education. Darris currently serves on the Executive Committee for the National Rural Education Association and on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Ad-Hoc Committee on K-12 STEM Education and Workforce Development in Rural Areas.

Research Interests

Spatial, racial, and class equity in postsecondary education access and success
STEM education and equity
First-generation college student success
Participatory action research
Visual methodology