About

Dan Tillapaugh is a professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education in the Graduate School of Education (GSOE) at California Lutheran University. He also serves as the associate dean for equity, outreach, and faculty development within the GSOE.

With 10 years of professional experience as a student affairs administrator in a variety of settings, he completed his Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego and his M.Ed. in Counseling and Personnel Services at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Tillapaugh's research focuses on intersectionality and social contexts of higher education, college men and masculinities, LGBT issues in higher education, sexual violence in higher education, and leadership development and education.

In the classroom, he teaches courses on counseling theory and practice, college student development theory, leadership, and organizational change in higher education.  

He has been recognized as an Emerging Scholar Designee by ACPA - College Student Educators International for his research pertaining to student development in higher education.

Education

Mus.B., Ithaca College, Music with an Outside Field of Sociology

M.Ed., University of Maryland, Counseling and Personnel Services

Ph.D., University of San Diego, Leadership Studies

Expertise

Former student affairs professional with over 10 years of experience

Past Chair, Coalition on Men & Masculinities, ACPA - College Student Educators International

Leadership Specialist, Hazing Prevention Consortium, StopHazing

Publications

Tillapaugh, D. (2023). Individual and systemic impacts of hegemonic masculinity on college men sexual violence peer educators. Journal of College Student Development, 64(2), 123-139.

Tillapaugh, D. (2022). Masculinity as violence: College men sexual violence survivors and the impact of hegemonic masculinity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022

Nicolazzo, Z., Jaekel, K., Tillapaugh, D., & Pérez II, D. (2021). Temporalities of [no] harm: Navigating trauma through research with minoritized populations in higher education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(1), 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1720851

Catalano, D. C. J., & Tillapaugh, D. (2020). Identity, role, and oppression: Experiences of LGBTQ resource center graduate assistants. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 57(5), 519-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2019.1699104

Tillapaugh, D., & McGowan, B. (Eds.). (2019). Men and masculinities: Theoretical foundations and promising practices for supporting college men’s development. Sterling VA: Stylus.

Tillapaugh, D., & McAuliffe, K. (2019). The experiences of high-achieving first-generation college males from rural Maine. College Student Affairs Journal, 37(1), 84-96.

Tillapaugh, D., & Nicolazzo, Z. (2019). Backward thinking: Exploring the relationship between intersectionality, epistemology, and research design. In D. Mitchell, J. Marie, & T. Steele (Eds.), Intersectionality and higher education: Theory, research, and praxis (2nd ed.; pp. 85-98). New York, NY: Peter Lang. 

Wagner, R., Catalano, D. C. J., & Tillapaugh, D. (2018). Emancipatory possibilities: Starting with men in gender research. In E. F. Henderson & Z Nicolazzo (Eds.), Starting with gender in international higher education: Conceptual debates and methodological concerns. New York, NY: Routledge.

Wagner, R., & Tillapaugh, D. (2018). Residence life, men, and masculinities: Recruitment, training, and administrative processes.  In D. C. J. Catalano, R. Wagner, & T. Davis (Eds.), Gender-aware practices: Intersectional approaches to applying masculinities in student affairs (New Directions for Student Services, No. 164; pp. 29-39). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Tillapaugh, D., & Catalano, D. C. J. (2019). Structural challenges affecting the experiences of public university LGBT services graduate assistants. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 12(2), 126-135. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000079

Tillapaugh, D., & Haber-Curran, P. (2017).  Critical perspectives on gender and student leadership (New Directions for Student Leadership, No. 154).  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Haber-Curran, P., & Tillapaugh, D. (2017).  Gender and student leadership. In D. Tillapaugh & P. Haber-Curran (Eds.), Critical perspectives on gender and student leadership (New Directions for Student Leadership, No. 154; pp. 11-22).  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Tillapaugh, D., Mitchell, D., & Soria, K. (2017). Considering gender and leadership through an intersectionality lens. In D. Tillapaugh & P. Haber-Curran (Eds.), Critical perspectives on gender and student leadership (New Directions for Student Leadership, No. 154; pp. 23-32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Beatty, C., & Tillapaugh, D. (2017). Masculinity, leadership, and liberatory pedagogy: Supporting men through leadership development and education. In D. Tillapaugh & P. Haber-Curran (Eds.), Critical perspectives on gender and student leadership (New Directions for Student Leadership, No. 154; pp. 47-58). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

Tillapaugh, D. (2017).  “The wounds of our experience”: College men who experienced sexual violence.  In J. Harris & C. Linder (Eds.), Intersections of identity and sexual violence: Centering minoritized students’ experiences (pp. 101-118).  Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Tillapaugh, D. (2016).  Resisting erasure: Critical influences for men who survived sexual violence in higher education.  Social Alternatives, 35(3), 11-17.

Tillapaugh, D., & Haber-Curran, P. (2016).  College men’s perceptions of their leadership practice: Unpacking power and influence. Journal of Leadership Education, 15(3), 131-150.

Tillapaugh, D. (2016).  Understanding sexual minority male students’ meaning-making about their multiple identities: An exploratory comparative study. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 46(1), 91-108.

Tillapaugh, D. (2015). “Writing our own rulebook”: Exploring the intersectionality of gay college men. In D. J. Davis, R. J. Brunn-Bevel, & J. L. Olive (Eds.), Intersectionality in education research (pp. 172-188). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Tillapaugh, D., & Nicolazzo, Z. (2015). “It’s kind of apples and oranges”: Gay college males’ conceptions of gender transgression as poverty. Journal of Critical Scholarship in Higher Education and Student Affairs, 1(1), 67-81.

Tillapaugh, D. (2015). Critical influences on sexual minority college males’ meaning-making of their multiple identities. Journal of Student Affairs Research & Practice, 52(1), 64-75.

Haber-Curran, P., & Tillapaugh, D. (2015). Student-centered transformative learning in leadership education: An examination of the teaching and learning process. Journal of Transformative Education, 13, 65-84. doi: 10.1177/1541344614560909.

Tillapaugh, D. (2014). Today’s college men: Challenges, issues, and successes. In P. Sasso & J. DeVitis (Eds.), Today’s college students: A reader (pp. 127-140). New York, NY: Peter Lang. 

Tillapaugh, D., & Nicolazzo, Z. (2014). Backwards thinking: Exploring the relationship between intersectionality, epistemology, and research design. In D. Mitchell, C. Simmons, & L. Greyerbiehl (Eds.), Intersectionality and higher education: Theory, research, and praxis (pp. 111- 122). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Tillapaugh, D. (2013). Breaking down the ‘walls of a façade”: The influence of compartmentalization on gay college males’ meaning making. Culture, Society, & Masculinities [Special Edition: Men and Masculinities in Higher Education], 5(2), 127-146. doi: 10.3149/CSM.0502.127.

Tillapaugh, D., & Haber-Curran, P. (2013). At the intersection of leadership and learning: A self-study of using student-centered pedagogies in the classroom. Educational Action Research, 21(4), 519- 531. doi: 10.1080/09650792.2013.832345.

Haber-Curran, P., & Tillapaugh, D. (2013). Leadership learning through student-centered and inquiry-focused approaches to teaching adaptive leadership. Journal of Leadership Education, 12(1), 93- 116.

Grant Funding

Critical Collaborative Ethnography of College Men Sexual Violence Prevention Peer Educators
ACPA – College Student Educators International Emerging Scholars Program, 2016-2018
Principal Investigator, $3,000

Shattering Perceptions: The Experiences of Men Who Survived Sexual Violence in College
NASPA Foundation, 2015
Principal Investigator, $4,400

Shattering Perceptions: The Experiences of Men Who Survived Sexual Violence in College
ACPA Foundation, 2015
Principal Investigator, $2,000