Frankie Santos Laanan

About Frankie Laanan

Frankie Santos Laanan joined the higher education faculty in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University in August 2003. From 2002-03 he was senior research scientist and associate director of the Bill J. Priest Center for Community College Education and assistant professor of higher education at the University of North Texas. From 1999-02 he was assistant professor of community college leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From 1997-99 he was senior research analyst in the Office of Vocational Education and Institutional Research at Coast Community College District in Costa Mesa, California. From 1993-96 he was research associate at the Center for the Study of Community Colleges in Los Angeles. From 1984-86 he served as staff assistant to the late Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo in the Washington Liaison Office, Office of the Governor of Guam in Washington, D.C.

He received his B.A. degree (1993) in political science, M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1998) degrees in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on college access, college impact, minority students’ pathway to the baccalaureate and beyond, impact of community colleges on society and individuals.

The recipient of the 2000 Emerging Scholar Award from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, he has authored book chapters, monographs, and articles which have appeared in journals including Research in Higher Education, Community College Review, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Educational Gerontology, and New Directions for Community Colleges.

He is active in a number of professional organizations including the American Educational Research Association, Association for the Study of Higher Education, and Council for the Study of Community Colleges. In addition to his research activities, he has served on national advisory panels including the American Association of Community Colleges and American College Testing “Faces of the Future” project, and ERIC Clearinghouse for Adult, Continuing, and Vocational Education. In 2000 he was invited to The White House to participate in an initiative spearheaded by former President Clinton titled, “The White Strategy on Improving Hispanic Student Achievement.” In 2001 he was a member of the Summit on the Status of Pacific Islander and Southeast Asians in Higher Education, which was sponsored by the U.S. Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.