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Eric L. Dey is Associate Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan School of Education. Dr. Dey earned the PhD in Higher Education from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and holds Master of Education and Bachelor of General Studies degrees from Wichita State University.  Dey's research is concerned with the ways that colleges and universities shape the experiences and lives of students and faculty. The central concern of this work is in identifying the influence that different institutional structures have on individuals, and the degree to which these influences are dependent on the evolving context within which the enterprise of higher education operates. As one example of this work, Dey was a member of the team of social scientists tapped to provide research on the educational effects of diverse student bodies; this work was foundational to the Supreme Court's decision supporting the continuing use of affirmative action in college admissions. In 1998, Dey was selected as one of forty "Young Leaders of the Academy" nationally by Change magazine and was the 1996 recipient of the distinguished Early Career Achievement Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). More recently, ASHE also honored his work on the University of Michigan's Affirmative Action Legal Defense team with a Special Merit Award in 2003.