Q&A: Ilana Horwitz on social networks, higher education and the National Academy of Education Fellowship

Ilana Horwitz, Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life and assistant professor of Jewish studies in the School of Liberal Arts, has been named a 2026 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow.

Selected from nearly 500 applicants, Horwitz was one of 25 fellows chosen to receive support for her project, "What Lasts Beyond the Diploma? A Longitudinal Study of Social Networks and Post-College Outcomes." The study follows a group of college graduates, whom Horwitz had also studied during their undergraduate years, to examine how their experiences in college shaped their lives after graduation.

In this Q&A, Horwitz discusses what the fellowship means to her, why she is revisiting the students from her original study and what those conversations might reveal. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does receiving this fellowship mean to you?

Horwitz: It gives me the time and support to do something rare: return to a group of 126 young people whose undergraduate lives I followed closely from 2017 to 2021 and see how their lives unfolded during emerging adulthood. It also connects me to a vibrant national community of education scholars through the National Academy of Education.

What inspired you to revisit the students who participated in your original study?

Horwitz: I spent four years listening to a remarkable group of 126 college students - two-thirds were students of color, 40% were first-generation or low-income, and they represented religious backgrounds including evangelical Christian, Catholic, Latter-day Saint, Muslim, Jewish and nonreligious - describe in real time what it was like to navigate identity, friendship and finding their footing during an extraordinarily turbulent period in the United States that included the COVID-19 pandemic.

I also mapped their friendship networks, including the racial, religious and socioeconomic makeup of their friends and how those ties shifted over four years. Those conversations and network maps left me with questions I couldn't answer while they were still in college: whether the students who felt most out of place would ultimately thrive, whether the friendships they built would carry them into adulthood or fall away, and whether an elite college education equalizes opportunities for first-generation and low-income students.

Why is it important to understand what happens to students after graduation?

Horwitz: Despite extensive research on college experiences and economic mobility data showing that elite colleges promote upward mobility, we don't know whether students who struggled with belonging during college achieve comparable well-being years later or whether friendship patterns predict not just career success but sustained life satisfaction. Those questions are critical to understanding educational equity.

What are you most interested in learning from this next phase of the project?

Horwitz: I'm especially interested in what happened to the college friendships I documented - whether varied networks translated into career opportunities and a broader world of possibilities, whether same-background friendships provided the emotional grounding that made everything else possible, and whether there are real trade-offs between the two.

I also want to know how the students who felt most out of place in college are doing now. Did those early struggles fade, harden into something lasting or ultimately become a source of strength? And I want to hear how graduates now assess their education. What do they think mattered? What do they wish had been different?

What do you hope this project reveals about the factors that shape students' lives after college?

Horwitz: I hope this study helps educational leaders understand which college social experiences have lasting impacts on graduates' professional success and personal well-being, and which interventions make enduring differences rather than only temporary ones.

I also hope it clarifies whether varied friendship networks that benefit careers sometimes come at a cost to students' sense of authenticity, and, if so, how institutions can structure programs that foster meaningful cross-class and cross-difference connections without asking students to sacrifice who they are.