Hofstra University's primary mission is to provide a quality education to its students in an environment that encourages, nurtures, and supports learning. At Hofstra, new ideas take shape through collaboration, engagement, and interaction. Hofstra students create their success with small classes and dedicated faculty, alongside a beautiful campus, plus all the opportunities of New York City within easy reach.

Our faculty are Fulbright Scholars, Emmy Award winners, successful entrepreneurs, groundbreaking scientists, pioneering educators, best-selling authors, and C-suite business executives. They are contributing to significant advances in bio-medical engineering, researching new ways to bring technology into the classroom, leading disaster response and conflict resolution efforts across the globe, and inspiring students to use their talents to serve the community.

Hofstra University

New Row

Contact expert @[Full Name](fullname), @[Job Title](job_title) at @[Organization](organization) for media, speaking, professional opportunities and more.

@[Full Name](fullname) at @[Organization](organization) | Contact Form

Expert Inquiry

Open Sans

Dr. Rebecca Natow was awarded the 2024 Outstanding Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education for her book "Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education."

Outstanding Book Award

Dr. Rebecca Natow was awarded the 2023 Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award from the Northeastern Educational Research Association (NERA).

Dr. Natow's winning paper, “Higher Education Title IX Coordinators as Policy Actors: Street-Level Bureaucracy and Beyond,” examined how higher education Title IX administrators view themselves and act as policy actors.

2023 Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award

"Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education" by Dr. Rebecca S. Natow was named a finalist for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the category of Education/Academic (non-fiction).

2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education, by Dr. Rebecca S. Natow is a finalist for the 2022 Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award.

As part of its mission to discover, review, and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts an annual awards program each year. Finalists represent the best books published in 2022.

2022 Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award Finalist

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector by Dr. Rebecca S. Natow placed first in the category of “Politics” and second in the category of “Education” for the 2022 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards.

The awards honor excellence in all types of literature and book marketing, recognizing creativity and hard work for a comprehensive list of genres in 68 categories.

Winner of Royal Dragonfly Book Awards

Professor Natow’s book, "Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in ther Postsecondary Sector," was named a finalist for an American Book Fest “Best Book” Award in the Education category.

American Book Fest “Best Book” Award Finalist

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector by Dr. Rebecca S. Natow has won a Critics’ Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association (AESA) for 2022.

Each year, a committee of AESA members selects a number of titles it regards as outstanding books that may be of interest to those in educational studies. http://www.educationalstudies.org/critics-choice-book-awards.php

Critics’ Choice Book Award

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education (Teachers College Press), a new book by Rebecca Natow, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy, was published on 1/28/2022.

Dr. Natow analyzes the activities of specific governmental branches and agencies that affect higher education, the nature of the government’s role in higher education today, and prospects for the future of federal involvement in higher education.

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education

As one of the Rockefeller Institute of Government's 2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellows, Dr. Natow will work on public policy issues in primary and postsecondary education, sustainability, substance abuse, and local government finance and management.

The fellowship connects cutting-edge policy expertise to public problems and the policy community that tries to address these problems.

2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow (Rockefeller Institute of Government)

Dr. Rebecca Natow participated in a panel for the 23rd Fórum Nacional do Ensino Superior Particular (FNESP).

She discussed the resiliency of institutions of higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The forum was presented by SEMESP, which represents higher education sponsors of Brazil.

23rd Fórum Nacional do Ensino Superior Particular (FNESP)

Member, American Educational Research Association

Member, Association for the Study of Higher Education

NASPA -- Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education

Northeastern Educational Research Association

Higher Education Policy Implications of President Biden’s First 100 Days

The Importance of Congressional Leadership for Higher Education Policy

Implications of the 2020 Presidential Election for Federal Higher Education Policy

Moving Online; Maintaining Excellence

Research Use and Politics in the Federal Higher Education Rulemaking Process

The use of triangulation in qualitative studies employing elite interviews

Performance-based funding for higher education: how well does neoliberal theory capture neoliberal practice?

Technology Use in Developmental Education: Experiences, Challenges, and Rationales

Performance Funding as Neoliberal Policy

Dr. Rebecca Natow, Professor and Director of the EdD Educational and Policy Leadership Program. She is an expert on higher education policy and has conducted extensive research on the U.S. Department of Education’s rulemaking process, performance-based funding for higher education, federal higher education policymaking, technology use in postsecondary developmental education, and research utilization in the creation of federal regulations. Dr. Natow’s newest book, Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector, was published by Teachers College Press in January 2022. She is also sole author of the book, Higher Education Rulemaking: The Politics of Creating Regulatory Policy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017), a coauthor on two books about performance-based funding for higher education, and an author or co-author of numerous scholarly articles, commentaries, and research reports. Dr. Natow received her Ed.D., Ed.M., and M.A. in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Program Evaluation

Qualitative Research Methods

Higher Education

Educational Policy

Student Affairs

Faculty Profile

Personal Website

ResearchGate Profile

Google Scholar

Supreme Court Decision Weakens Education Department

Biden’s student loan debt relief plan B is underway after Supreme Court ruling

What are the chances Biden extends the student loan pause again?

Federal Policy on Community Colleges: Presidential Priorities and Policy Tools

Rebecca Natow on politically-infused evidence use

‘An Existential Threat’: Experts Talk Impact of Student Loan Forgiveness Ruling

Student debt forgiveness is on hold for now—here’s why it’s blocked and what could happen next

Using Colleges' Outcomes to Gauge Risk for Students

New York's governor shares ambitious new vision for SUNY

Pandemic-Fueled Confidence for College Presidents

Why Haven't More Colleges Closed?

Policy Outsider

A Democratic-Controlled Senate ‘Will Change Everything’ but ‘Guarantee Nothing’ for Higher Ed

Colleges Adapt to Online Learning

The Department of Education Needs a Researcher On Its Rule-Making Panel

GOP Seeks to Shift Accountability for Colleges

Anticipating and Addressing Challenges With Technology in Developmental Education

Tips to Engage Students and Anticipate Challenges

A Better Future Is Possible - closing keynote address

The Influence of Federal Policy on State Authorization for Higher Education

possible-impact-of-dismantling-the-doe

Assistant Professor of Specialized Programs in Education

Rebecca Natow, associate professor and director of the EdD in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies program and the MSEd in Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies, was interviewed by Newsday for the article: “Trump wants to abolish the federal education department. What could it mean for Long Island schools?”

 The article explains the role of the Department of Education and what it would mean to local schools if it were dismantled. Dr. Natow said opposition to any action will likely argue that the president needs authority from Congress to eliminate the education department.

“I expect we will see lawsuits. That’s going to be their argument, that it’s not the proper function of executive action,” she said. 

Possible Impact of Dismantling the DOE

trump-administration-likely-to-bring-policy-changes-to-higher-ed

Rebecca Natow, associate professor and director of the EdD in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies program and the MSEd in Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies, was interviewed for “Higher Ed Changes Loom Under a Second Trump Administration,” that appeared in the latest issue of Governing.

 The article explains that when Donald Trump becomes president, he will likely undo federal regulations enacted by the Biden administration, affecting issues such as Title IX enforcement and protections for transgender students. Those regulations were partly an undoing of Trump’s first-term policies.

“It’s been a burden because the people who are working on the college campuses implementing these policies on the ground are having to learn all new policies,” said Dr. Natow.


Trump Administration Likely to Bring Policy Changes to Higher Ed

Join Dr. Rebecca Natow, assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, for tips on how to keep students interested and engaged in online classes, and for the latest research on the challenges of using technology for instruction.

Transition to Online Teaching: How to Engage Students and Anticipate Challenges

Evidence is not the exclusive province of science advisors and science advice institutions. And especially in policy areas where those institutions are weak or absent, other forces rush to fill the vacuum: stakeholders, lobbyists, interest groups.


In this episode, Dr Rebecca Natow talks to Toby Wardman about federal education policy in the US, a domain that employs a 'negotiated rulemaking' methodology to try to find consensus among many stakeholders — even though scientific input is also legally mandated. The result is a swirling, politically-infused debate around the meaning of both quantitative and q
qualitative evidence.

** Don't forget to post questions and comments below to contribute to our upcoming 100th guest episode! **

== Resources mentioned in this episode==
* Reexamining the federal role in higher education https://www.tcpress.com/reexamining-the-federal-role-in-higher-education-9780807766767
* Higher education rulemaking: the politics of creating regulatory policy https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11563/higher-education-rulemaking

Select Inquiry Type