Deondra Rose is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

"This book keenly demonstrates the value of cross disciplinary analysis. Rose carefully explores the history of three legislative developments while pushing historians to recognize their unintentional--though hugely significant--benefits to women. In this, she offers a new conception of how gender, higher education, and citizenship interact." -Linda Eisenmann, Wheaton College, Massachusetts

"Over the past half century, women have gone from the margins to the center of U.S. higher education. With empirical rigor and historical imagination, Deondra Rose's landmark book explains how this happened--and highlights the centrality of federal government policies in opening opportunities vital to female advancement in both the economy and civic life." -Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University

"This fascinating, important book shows how public policy first inadvertently and then intentionally facilitated women's access to higher education, with the stunning result that women outstrip men in educational attainment and, concomitantly, political participation. Although American social policy has often sidelined women, this lively, incisive examination reveals how higher education policy generated positive policy feedback effects on gender parity and social citizenship. A fresh and powerful account." - Andrea Louise Campbell, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Deondra Rose has written a powerful and timely book, as vital for public discourse as for scholarship in her field. In an age of cynicism about what governments can do, Rose shows us how public policies can expand opportunity, deepen equality, and enrich citizenship. Citizens by Degree is the best study to date of how changes in funding and regulation paved the way for women to make remarkable advances in higher education and American civic life. Equally important, it is a sharp reminder that inequality and marginalization last only so long as we accept them, and that the policy choices we embrace transform the society we live in." -Joe Soss, Cowles Professor for the Study of Public Service, University of Minnesota