Newsroom

As dual enrollment grows rapidly nationwide, including a sharp rise in participation across Washington state, Dr. Julia Duncheon is studying what accelerated college pathways mean for students’ learning and development. While these programs promise affordability and access, her research highlights important tradeoffs that often go unnoticed. Drawing on student stories and classroom insights, she explores how institutions can balance efficiency with the deeper purposes of higher education.

UW College of Education alumna Dr. Britney Holmes (MIT ’14) has spent nearly two decades working to create schools where every child — and every adult — can belong. After serving as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Seattle Public Schools, Holmes now partners with districts and organizations nationwide through And Still We Rise to help leaders build more equitable and inclusive systems.

The 2026 Research & Inquiry (R&I) Conference brought together 22 doctoral students to share their work and celebrate an important milestone in their Ph.D. journeys. Through thoughtful and compelling presentations, students explored topics ranging from data-informed policy to critically sustaining teacher identity in hegemonic spaces, as well as themes of agency, resistance and collective action.