Morgan Woodle

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the  University of Oklahoma. . My research predominantly looks at DEI initiatives within public organizations from various lenses. I will defend my dissertation, Bring Back the Politics to Administration: Citizen Attitudes of DEI in Higher Education, in the spring of 2025 – graduating from the University of Oklahoma in May 2025.

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 My dissertation, Bring Back the Politics to Administration: Citizen Attitudes of DEI in Higher Education, uses the state bans on DEI in higher education to analyze the political encroachment on public administration. I illustrate states' themes to target anti-DEI initiatives through a content analysis of proposed state legislation. Using a survey experiment, I capture citizen attitudes toward these initiatives. While anti-DEI is tied to a political and ideological agenda, I can demonstrate cases where citizen opposition is enhanced through political rhetoric. The dissertation highlights my understanding of survey design and my training in qualitative analysis, specifically interviews and text analysis. As I advance in my scholarly career, I will use my mixed-method toolset to answer my research questions. I will also continue making advances in my research of citizen attitudes concerning bureaucratic decision-making in DEI/social equity and other contentious policies, as well as using narratives and morality politics to advance knowledge of public opinion of the transgender community in public organizations and nonprofits.