Candice Bledsoe is the executive director of the Action Research Center. Her research explores equity and access for underrepresented students in higher education. Dr. Bledsoe has received numerous fellowships including: The National Endowment of Humanities, the New Leadership Academy, National Center of Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan, the Boone Family Foundation, and Dallas Public Voices. Dr. Bledsoe is also faculty at the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and SMU Cox School of Business, and director for Research & Communications at the SMU Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity.