Crystal Lee-Thao
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Pronouns: she, her, hers
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Doctoral Student, HE
Areas of interest
- Two-year institutions
- Student identity and cultural heritage
- Civic engagement and retention
- Family interdependence on academic motivation
MA, Higher Education, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, 2017
BA, Communications and Rhetorical Studies, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2012
Crystal is a Hmong-American higher education scholar and practitioner with over 10 years of experience in higher ed. Her main areas of research focus on the access and equity of student engagement practices and the role of family in college student academic success. Additionally, she has taught the following courses at the University of Minnesota: OLPD 1302, LASk 1001, and CLA 1005, OLPD 3332, and CSE 1001. Crystal has recently shifted from higher education into EdTech. Currently, she is an Operations Strategist for Education Analytics, a startup turned non-profit, dedicated to using data and analytics to improve outcomes for students and the American education system. She hopes to gain more experience in tech, organizational development, and education policy through this work and does plan on returning to higher education in the distant future.
Awards
- Mary Tjosvold Graduate Fellow (2018)
- Rodney Wallace Scholarship (2016)
- Hmong National Development Scholarship (2016)
- CEHD Graduate Study Abroad Grant (2015)
- HAEF General Vang Pao Memorial Scholarship (2015)
Stebleton, M.J., Lee, C., & Diamond, K. (2020). Understanding the food insecurity experiences of college students: A qualitative inquiry. The Review of Higher Education, 43(3), 727-752.
Stebleton, M.J., Kaler, L., Diamond, K., & Lee, C.. (2020) Examining career readiness in a liberal arts undergraduate career planning course. Journal of Employment Counseling, 57, 14-26.
Stebleton, M.J., Franklin, M., Lee, C., & Kaler, L.S. (2019). Not just for undergraduates: Examining a university narrative-based career management course for engineering graduate students. Canadian Journal of Career Development, 18(2), 64-77.
Do, T., Zhang, Y., Lee-Thao, C., Earnest, M., & Varma, K. (2022, February 2-4). Paid virtual summer research experience: Belonging and science identity. The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Lee-Thao, C., Do, T., Zhang, Y., Fabunmi, R., & Varma, K. (2022, April 22-25). Purposeful practices: Understanding the undergraduate research experiences of underrepresented STEM students. American Educational Research Association Conference, San Diego, CA, United States.
Zhang, Y., Lee-Thao, C., Do, T., Fabunmi, R., & Varma, K. (2022, April 22-25). Improving underrepresented minority STEM students’ success through well-established culturally responsive programming. American Educational Research Association Conference, San Diego, CA, United States.
Lee, C. (2020, August). Values are like Fingerprints. Keynote workshop at the alpha Kappa Delta Phi International Sorority, Inc. 2020 Back to School Retreat (BTSR) (virtual due to coronavirus pandemic).
Lee, C.. (November 2017). Engagement Means...Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Minnesota College Professionals Association, Minneapolis, MN.
DeSalvo, A., Lee, C.K., & Lee, C. (November 2016). Reflective Justice: A Search for Alignment Between Social Justice Praxis and Queer and Trans Lives at the University of Minnesota. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Minnesota College Professionals Association, Duluth, MN.