Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen

Biography

Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen is an assistant professor of education at Oregon State University. Her research examines the relationship between social categorization and inequality in education, with interest in racial and organizational classifications. She is currently writing her first book (under contract with University of Chicago Press) on how higher education organizations at the intersection of two MSI designations navigate racialized tensions, enact widespread cultural ideals, or “myths,” and give life to unique organizational frames of racial equity. Nguyen earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in social science and comparative education from University of California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. in English and communication from University of Washington.

Research 

• Social categorization
• Racial constructions
• Organizational classifications
• Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)
• Organizational behavior
   

Current Projects

Washington State Data Coalition (funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation): 

Focused on the development and creation of a statewide data coalition in collaboration with WA STEM, the project is curated to build foundational understandings of a community-engaged and racial equity oriented coalition, which responds to the gaps and opportunities of data demand, systems, governance, and use across Washington State. In partnership with Southeast Seattle Education Coalition, the research activities include surveying community-based organizations in Greater Seattle region and conducting a systematic review of literature on community-based data engagement. These outcomes will help inform data coalition building, shape policy on data governance, and ensure that community-based organizations remain a central commitment in efforts to restructure data infrastructure. 

Public Universities' Responses to Influenza Pandemics in the Era of Modern Virology, 1957-2022: Education's Purpose and the Specter of Racialized Animus (funded by Spencer Foundation):

Drawing from methods in historical sociology, this project examines how public universities in California and New York responded to influenza pandemics from the late 20th century to the present. The project uses web scraping techniques to create an open repository of institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic between January 2020 and May 2022. Thereafter, the original repository will be connected with institutional responses the "Asian Influenza" (1957-1960), the “Hong Kong Virus” (1967-1970) and the H1N1 pandemic (2008-2009). Through historical analysis informed by racialized organization practices and situational crisis communications theory, the study aims to detail the emergent patterns over 65 years. The project will clarify how universities’ responses to influenza pandemics re-crafted the messaging of education as a public good and coalesced with racialized discourses during crises borne from influenza pandemics.