Student Success Champion Profile - Stephen John Quaye, Ph.D.
Dr. Stephen John Quaye’s ability to foster community and adaptability in tackling issues have been great assets throughout his work while at OSU. From being a professor, program chair, and now associate dean, he has always strived to create inclusive environments to improve student success.
For three years, Dr. Quaye served as program chair for the Higher Education and Student Affairs graduate program, which prepares students for leadership roles in higher education. During this time, he noticed that students’ experiences and perspectives were missing from program-level discussions and decision-making. To include student voices, he created student liaison positions which allow one elected student per program (master’s, Ed.D., and Ph.D.) to attend and contribute to monthly faculty meetings. The inclusion of student voices not only benefitted the faculty and programs, but also provided students with new opportunities and fostered their relationships with faculty. Along with his chair duties, Dr. Quaye led research projects focused on college student success, including topics such as engaging in and facilitating difficult dialogues about privilege, power and oppression; student activism; navigating and healing from racial battle fatigue; and the impact of full financial aid funding on students’ engagement in college. Toward the end of his time as program chair, Dr. Quaye was recognized with the university’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. As one of his students wrote in the award nomination: “Dr. Quaye has challenged us intellectually to help us learn and grow, which was emphasized by his comments on grading: grades are important because they dictate our academic progress, but they are not most important — the learning that comes from the readings, assignments and dialogues is most important.”
In August 2023, Dr. Quaye began his tenure as the Associate Dean for Excellence in Graduate and Postdoctoral Training in the Graduate School. He was attracted to the role because it would allow him to engage with each of the colleges at Ohio State in order to do deeper and broader work supporting graduate student success. In this role, he oversees three areas to advance the recruitment, retention, and mentorship of graduate and professional students and postdoctoral scholars: Postdoctoral affairs, fellowship services, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Shortly after he started the role, Dr. Quaye was tasked with adapting one particular fellowship to be in line with a recent Supreme Court ruling around affirmative action. With a short turnaround, he and his team successfully revamped the fellowship to focus on access for those who have historically not had access to graduate education, research, or mentorship. Dr. Quaye is proud of the feedback he has read from the yearly fellowship survey in which students share their fellowship experience. One example was a student who for the first time could focus solely on their studies, as they had been working many hours a week since they were just 14 years old. Hearing the difference having a fellowship has on a student’s life is motivating and powerful for Dr. Quaye and his team.
“Work within your circles or your spheres of influence to prevent feeling overwhelmed when you're trying to change something so massive.”
Dr. Quaye is invested in addressing large-scale issues, especially racism in our society, and has advice for students who find themselves struggling to figure out how to make change happen when issues can seem so massive. He advises, “Work within your circles or your spheres of influence to prevent feeling overwhelmed when you're trying to change something so massive.” When he teaches, his sphere of influence is his students. By helping students develop dialogue skills, craft action steps, and engage in activism, those students then can go out with confidence in affecting change and can repeat the cycle. Not only is a student’s confidence buoyed, but they have cultivated a supportive community to tackle important issues. Dr. Quaye brings this intentional focus to his current work as he collaborates with the associate deans across the colleges. Together, they work to move the needle on student success and retention.
Additional links
Dr. Quaye featured on “Tell Me Your Why” podcast: https://faculty.osu.edu/tell-me-your-why-podcast
SASR Grant: https://ssrl.osu.edu/our-work/projects/sasr-grant-projects/2021-sasr-grant-projects/using-photo-elicitation-to-investigate-racial-battle-fatigue-among-black-college-students/
Photo 1: Dr. Quaye after a recent run along the water in Chicago.
Photo 2: A sunny day on the Oval at Ohio State.