Faculty Directory
Dante J. Salto, Ph.D.
Dante J. Salto, Ph.D., is an associate professor of higher education whose research examines how colleges and universities interpret and respond to public policy, with particular attention to regulation, organizational behavior, and student access.
Salto studies how public policy becomes institutional practice and why colleges and universities respond differently to the same rules and external pressures. His research combines comparative and international higher education, organizational analysis, and policy implementation, with particular experience in Latin America and the United States.
His work follows three related lines. First, he studies quality assurance, accreditation, and authorization, including institutional responses that range from resistance and limited compliance to adaptation and over-compliance. Second, he examines private and for-profit higher education, focusing on regulation, market competition, institutional differentiation, and legitimacy. A third line of research examines how higher education institutions respond to policies affecting international students and migrants, with attention to institutional access, support, and policy implementation.
Salto’s research has appeared in Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Quarterly, Higher Education Policy, and Quality in Higher Education. He served as co-principal investigator on a Spencer Foundation-funded project examining how colleges and universities responded to policy uncertainty affecting DACAmented and undocumented students.
He is a co-editor of the Routledge book series Global Realities in Private Higher Education and co-editor, with Daniel C. Levy, of Public Policy and Private Higher Education in Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2026). He serves on the board of the Program for Research on Private Higher Education (PROPHE), where he also chairs the National Data and Laws Committee.
Salto teaches and mentors graduate students in higher education policy and governance, organizational theory and change, comparative and international higher education, and research design and qualitative methods.
Areas of Expertise
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Higher education policy, governance, and organizational behavior
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Comparative and international higher education
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Quality assurance, accreditation, and authorization
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Private and for-profit higher education
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International students, migration, and higher education
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Qualitative and mixed-method research
Education
- Ph.D., Educational Administration and Policy Studies, Higher Education concentration, University at Albany, State University of New York
- M.Sc., Educational Administration and Policy Studies, Higher Education concentration, University at Albany, State University of New York
- Licenciatura in Education, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Selected Honors and Research Support
- Spencer Foundation research grant, Co-Principal Investigator
- Presidential Distinguished Dissertation Award, State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany
- Fulbright Fellowship
- Organization of American States Fellowship
Recent Publications
Conceição, S. C. O., & Salto, D. J. (2026). Distance education in higher education in Latin America: Realities, opportunities, and challenges. eLearn, 2026(Special Issue), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1145/3801089.3772205
Daiute, C., Salto, D. J., Habteselasse, S., & Parola, M. (2026). Contested policies around uncontested immigration relief in the United States. En A. Creus & A. Ornellas (Eds.), Crossing borders to connect routes: Bridging transnational perspectives. Editorial Octaedro.
Levy, D. C., & Salto, D. J. (Eds.). (2026). Public policy and private higher education in comparative perspective. Routledge. Publisher page
Otto, J. M., Whatley, M., & Salto, D. J. (2026). The internationalization of for-profit higher education institutions in the United States: Seeking legitimacy and responding to market forces via international student mobility. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01619-5
Professional Organizations
- Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
- Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
