Gregory Wolniak

Biography

Gregory Wolniak is Head of Education Initiatives at DataKind, who's mission is to harness the power of "data for good" in advancing equity and evidence-informed institutional and system-wide change in higher education.

Prior to joining DataKind, Wolniak held roles spanning academia (as Professor of Higher Education at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia and as Center Director and Clinical Associate Professor of Higher Education at New York University) and industry (as Principal Researcher at Mathematics and Senior Research Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago).

He is an expert on topics related to student learning and development, the career and economic outcomes of college, and institutional polices related to tuition, financial aid, and financial transparency. Wolniak co-authored the highly influential book, "How College Affects Students: 21st Century Evidence that Higher Education Works" (2016, Wiley/Jossey-Bass), in addition to over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications, garnering him media mentions and featured articles in outlets such as Psychology Today, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Conversation, Inside Higher Education and MarketWatch. In support of his scholarship, Wolniak has received generous funding from numerous sources, most notably including the Horatio Alger Association, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the Institute for Justice and Opportunity (formerly the Prisoner Reentry Institute).

His most recent publications appear in AERA Open, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Student Financial Aid, Journal Of Education and Work, Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, and Review of Research in Education.

Education

• PhD, Social Foundations of Education, University of Iowa
• MA, Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago
• BS, Economics, Iowa State University

Selected Publications

Wolniak, G.C., Chen-Bendle, E.C., & Kunzman, T.E. (2025). The Development of Sense of Campus Belonging: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of Low-Income College Students. Journal of College Student Development. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2025.a962920. 

Simpfenderfer, A.D., Wolniak, G.C., Wise, K., & Blaich, C.F. (2024). Exploring the associations among major fields of study, pre-professional activities, and post-college job quality in alumnx of liberal arts colleges. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01342-7

Wolniak, G.C., Chen-Bendle, E.C., & Tackett, J.L. (2023). Exploring Gender Differences in Leadership Aspirations: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of College Students from Adverse Backgrounds. AERA Open, 9(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584231183665.

Wolniak, G.C., Gregory, M.M., & Muskens, M. (2023). The Relative Influence of Subjective and Objective Socioeconomic Status on the Noncognitive Development of First-Year College Students. Review of Higher Education, 46(3), 311-42. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2023.0001.

Wolniak, G.C., & Burman, S.C. (2022). COVID-19 Disruptions: Early Evidence on the Effects of Campus Closure on Academic Self-Efficacy and Motivation. Journal of College Student Development, 63(4), 455-460. http://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2022.0038.

Bowman, N.A., Wolniak, G.C., Seifert, T.A., Blaich, C.F., & Wise, K. (2022). The Long-Term Role of Undergraduate Experiences: Predicting Intellectual and Civic Outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 64, 379–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-022-09708-5.

Whitaker, A., & Wolniak, G.C. (2022). Social Exclusion in the Arts: The Dynamics of Social and Economic Mobility Across Three Decades of Undergraduate Arts Alumni in the United States. Review of Research in Education, 46(1), 198-228. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X221089947.

Wolniak, G.C., & Muskens, M. (2021). Undermatching and Affective Development during the First Year of College: A longitudinal study of college students in the Netherlands. Research in Higher Education, 62(6), 855-884. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-020-09620-w.

Wolniak, G.C., Mitic, R.R., & Engberg, M.E. (2020). Diverse pathways to graduate education attainment. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 13(4), 368–383. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe000014

Davis, L.D., Wolniak, G.C., George, C.E., & Nelson, G. (2019). Demystifying Tuition? Building a framework for informational quality and accessibility. AERA Open, 5(3), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419867650.

Wolniak, G.C., & Engberg, M.E. (2019). Do "High-Impact" College Experiences Affect Early Career Outcomes? Review of Higher Education, 42(3), 825-858. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0021.

Allen, D., & Wolniak, G.C. (2019). Exploring the Effects of Tuition Increases on Racial/Ethnic Diversity at Public Colleges and Universities. Research in Higher Education, 60(1), 18-43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-018-9502-6.