Matthew Wolfgram

Researcher II

Matthew Wolfgram, Ph.D., is an anthropologist at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. His research employs ethnography, participatory action research, linguistics and discourse analysis, and other qualitative research methods to study factors that impact the educational experiences of minoritized college students. Dr. Wolfgram’s current study examines STEM experiences of Hmong undergraduates across Wisconsin—studentengagedpar.wceruw.org. His prior research addressed social interaction and gesture in STEM classrooms, and the historiy and contempoary modernization of Ayurvedic medicine in Kerala, South India.

Selected publications from current research:

  • Wolfgram, M., Lee, S. J., Her, C., Pheng Pha, K., Smolarek, B. B., & Xiong, C. P. (2025). STEM Asianization and the racialization of the educational experiences of Asian American college students. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2025.2509065
  • Wolfgram, M., & Larson, J. (2025). “It was supposed to be an internship”: The consequences of semiotic ambiguity for labor and learning in the new economy. Signs and Society. 13(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.1017/sas.2024.6
  • Wolfgram, M., & Van Auken, P. (2023). The time politics of refugee resettlement and higher education in the United States. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 39(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41129
  • Wolfgram, M., & Kendell, N. (2023). “Piling on the stress”: Low-income students’ experiences in a neoliberal majoritarian university. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 54(4), 392–413. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1111/aeq.12458
  • Vang, M., Wolfgram, M., Smolarek, B., Lee, L., Moua, P., Thao, A., ... & Yang, L. (2022). Autoethnographic engagement in participatory action research: Bearing witness to developmental transformations for college student activists. Action Research, 21(1), 104-123. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1177/14767503221145347
  • Wolfgram, M., & Ahrens, V. (2022) ""One internship, two internships, three internships … more!"": Exploring the culture of the multiple internship economy. Journal of Education and Work, 35(2), 139-153. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/13639080.2022.2036713
  • Wolfgram, M., Vivona, B., & Akram, T. (2021). On the intersectional amplification of barriers to college internships: A comparative case study analysis. Harvard Education Review, 91(4), 457-481. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.17763/1943-5045-91.4.457
  • Smolarek, B. B., Wolfgram, M., Vang, MN., Xiong, C. Lee, L. Lee, P., Thao, M., Vang, K., Xiong, P. K., Xiong, O., & Xiong, P. (2021). Our HMoob American college paj ntaub: Student-led community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) as counter-invisibility work. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(6), 1018–1038. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/09518398.2021.1888162
  • Wolfgram, M. (2020). Refugees and the audit culture of international higher education in the United States. New Directions for Higher Education, 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20382
  • Kendall, N., Goerisch, D., Kim, E. C., Vernon, F., & Wolfgram, M. (2020). The true costs of college. Springer Nature.

Selected publications from prior research:

Contact Information

mswolfgram@wisc.edu
Office: 1025 W Johnson St, Madison, WI, USA, 53706-1706