Morgan Ponder, Ed.D.

Morgan Ponder, Ed.D. joined the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences in 2022 as Advisor and Undergraduate Programs Supervisor in Political Science and International Relations.

Morgan has 17 years of diverse leadership experiences in post-secondary education. Prior to joining Political Science and International Relations, he was the Master’s Programs Academic Director in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. His career in higher education began in 2005 when he joined the USC Dornsife Department of Economics as Graduate Advisor. In Economics, Morgan oversaw administration for three terminal Master’s programs, Progressive Degree Programs (PDP), and the PhD program. After 13 years in 2018, Morgan left as Associate Director of Graduate Student Affairs the Department of Economics for a position as Director of Admission for a partnership program between Shorelight Education and the University of California, Los Angeles Extension (UCLA-E). This one-year transfer program was designed to allow international students the opportunity to spend their freshman year of study registered for UCLA main-campus equivalent undergraduate transferrable General Education (GE) courses. During this time, Morgan also served as Interim Director of Admission for a similar partnership program with the University of Mississippi. His previous roles required considerable international travel to China, Brazil, Mexico City, Albania, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

Morgan was a sophomore transfer to USC from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Communication from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, a minor in Cinema-Television from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Communication Management also from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Department of Education Studies (EDS).

Morgan’s doctoral research focused on DACA students persisting into post-secondary education. His dissertation is titled: “Coming out of the Shadows: Undocumented Latinx Students Persisting into Higher Education through Appreciative Inquiry.” His dissertation chair was Dr. Frances Contreras. Dr. Contreras was Associate Professor of Education and Associate Vice Chancellor of Faculty, Equity, and Diversity at UC San Diego. She was appointed Dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in January 2022. Dean Contreras is the first Latina/Chicana Dean of a school of education in the UC system.

In his spare time, Morgan enjoys cooking, advocating for social justice/equity, and spending time with his 4lbs mixed terrier named, Trixie. He’s a native Angeleno, hailing from North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley.