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This paper reviews the existing literature to discuss how critical race theory has been applied as a theoretical framework to higher educational research in the United States and what its contributions are. To provide necessary context, I will discuss race and racism in the United States, the background of US higher education in relation to race, the emergence of critical race theory and its application in US higher education.

The persisting gender pay gap favoring men among college graduates is a puzzle given women's remarkable success in postsecondary education. This article examines income disparities among recent college graduates by intersecting gender and social class and evaluating the relative importance of fields of study and institutional selectivity. Data from National Education Longitudinal Studies: 88--2000 and its postsecondary transcript data show that women reap less earnings advantage from selective institutions but similar advantages from lucrative fields compared to men. Our within-gender analysis shows that lucrative fields of study can offset the earnings disadvantages associated with less privileged social class and attending nonselective institutions for women, but not for men. (Contains 4 tables and 6 footnotes.)

Derek S. Hyra, The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2008. Pp. 214. Cloth $22.50. Derek S. Hyra's [...]

The article examines how fields of study and institutional selectivity contributes to an understanding of the gender pay gap among college graduates. Topics discussed include the extent to which lucrative fields of study help make up for the disadvantages linked with less selective institutions and disadvantaged family backgrounds as well as how this choice vary between sexes. Also mentioned is the use of the National Education Longitudinal Studies: 88-2000.