Jacqueline Mac

Assistant Professor
ACUE Distinguished Teaching Scholar

Department

Jacqueline Mac (she/hers), Ph.D., is a first-generation Southeast Asian American college graduate and assistant professor in higher education. She teaches courses on equity and justice, research methods, assessment, public policy, and in higher education and student affairs. Her pedagogy centers on cultivating inclusive and equitable classrooms that use culturally sustaining strategies.

Prior to her doctoral work, Jacqueline worked primarily in institutional diversity and multicultural affairs offices at the Indiana University School of Medicine, University of Maryland-College Park, and Georgetown University, as well as at a national education nonprofit. She also has professional and graduate assistantship experiences in other functional areas, such as graduate student services, leadership development, health and wellness and academic integrity. Since 2010, she has been an active member of ACPA - College Educators International, serving as chair and past-chair of the Asian Pacific American Network (APAN) and as co-chair of the Nominations and Elections Taskforce.

She is a co-founder of the SEAAster Scholars Collective, a collective of practitioners, faculty, and administrators committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the postsecondary experiences of Southeast Asian American students, staff, and faculty.

Jacqueline's research focuses on understanding the racial realities of colleges and universities and uncovering the possibilities and limitations of these institutions to advance racial justice and equity. Her work examines three areas: racism and racialization, campus environments, and institutional change and transformation. She is particularly interested in racially marginalized, Southeast Asian American, and refugee populations, as well as minority-serving institutions. She uses critical theoretical perspectives, engages knowledge from fields outside of education, and employ methodologies that challenge traditional and rigid ways of thinking about the researcher-participant relationship and merge methodological rigor with critical approaches to inquiry.

Select Public Scholarship

Mac, J. (2023). SEAAster Scholars collective: Advancing critical feminist refugee epistemologies in qualitative inquiry. Invited talk for QualLab Lunchtime Lecture Series at the Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology.

Mac, J., Njoku, N., Oxendine, S., and Zamani-Gallaher, E. (2021). Crossing borders from the academy: Community colleges and MSIs. Invited panelist to Association for the Study of Higher Education 2021 Presidential Webinar series [Virtual program].

Sasaki, W., Kanagala, V., and Mac, J. (2021). Amplifying APIDA voices: The Asian Pacific Islander Desi American student experience. Panelist for Student Affairs Now podcast series.

Yi, V., Phommasa, M., Thaviseth, L. J., Pheng, L., Na, V. S., and Mac, J. (2020). Overcoming barriers while pursuing a career in academia as an Asian American with the SEAAsters Scholars. Panelist for Project Voice podcast series.

Yi, V., Na, V. S., Venturanza, R. J., Mac, J., and Museus, S. D. (2019, December 16). Asian Americans and racial justice: Racial exclusion and the (im)possibilities of cultivating our identity, consciousness, and agency. Spark: Elevating Scholarship on Social Issues, The Online Magazine of the National Center for Institution Diversity. [Blog post].

Select Recent Publications

Mac, J., Aunaetitrakul, D., and Xiong, N. (2024). What’s not in the grant: An exploration of project directors’ experiences at two-year Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions in the Midwest. New Directions for Community Colleges on Minority-Serving Institutions, 2024, 131-142. Wiley.

Nyunt, G., Mac, J., Veron, R., Birch, Z., and Scoma, P. (2023). “There should be more outrage”: Making meaning of racial identity during times of increased anti-Asian hate. Journal of College Student Development, 64(6), 679 696.

Mac, J., Venturanza, R. J., Trinh, M., Yi, V. (2023). Sometimes you’re gritty, sometimes you’re not: The racialization of grit for Asian Americans. In A. Locks, R. Mendoza, D. F. Carter. (Eds.) Debunking the Grit Narrative in Higher Education. Routledge.

Mac, J., Hoang, S., Kem, P., Kiang, P. N., Romero, D., and D’Anna-Hernandez, K. (2023). Leveraging culture and identity in writing intensive courses at minority serving institutions. New Direction for Student Services, 2023, 53-65. Wiley.

Museus, S. D., Mac, J., Wang, A. C., Sarreal, A., Wright-Mair, R., and Manlove, J. (2022). How Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) initiatives respond to institutional racism. Journal of Higher Education.

Mac, J., Na, V., Yi, V., Phommasa, M., Thaviseth, L., and Pheng, L. (2021). The SEAAsterScholars collective: A story of homemaking in academia. Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, 16(1). DOI: 10.7771/2153-8999.1233.

Wang, A. C, Mac, J., and Museus, S. D. (2021). The power of ethnic studies at Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). About Campus, 26(1), 10-16.

Yi, V., Mac, J., Na, V., Venturanza, R., Museus, S. D., Buenavista, T. L., and Pendakur, S. (2020). Toward an anti-imperialistic critical race analysis of the model minority myth. Review of Educational Research, 90(4), 542-579.

Education

Ph.D., Higher Education (Minor in Comparative and International Education), Indiana University
M.A., College Student Personnel Administration, University of Maryland, College Park
B.S., Psychology (Minor in Asian American Studies), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign