Erich Dietrich researches, publishes, and teaches on the history and internationalization of higher education, equity in access to higher education, and affirmative action policies in a comparative, international context.
With a research focus on equity in higher education, Professor Dietrich has published on affirmative action policies in Brazil and has served on the advisory board for the Institute of International Education’s International Academic Partnership Program for Brazil, which promotes collaborations in higher education. He regularly teaches a graduate-level study abroad course, Race, Class and Equity in Higher Education in Brazil. He is co-PI on a grant from the CAPES Foundation of the Brazilian Ministry of Education on “Access and Retention of Black Students in Higher Education: Advances and Challenges in a Comparative Perspective.”
A second line of research and scholarship concerns outcomes assessment of study away and global education. Dietrich is co-PI (with Professor Sebastian Cherng) of the SAGE (Study Away and Global Education) Research Project, which includes CASSIE, the Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education, a federally funded research project that expands the empirical evidence on international education and student outcomes by establishing a national databank that enables a quantitative approach to understanding the impact of international education experiences on college success.
Dietrich serves as an Ambassador for the Magna Charta Universitatum Observatory, and is a former Board Member of AIEA, the association of leaders in international higher education, and former Chair of NAFSA's International Education Leadership Knowledge Community (IEL-KC).
From 2009-2019, Dietrich was Assistant Vice President of NYU Global Programs and Associate Dean of Global Affairs at NYU Steinhardt. He holds a PhD from New York University, a master’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA, magna cum laude, from Carleton College.
Dietrich is a 2022 recipient of NYU Steinhardt's Teaching Excellence Award, and received a Fulbright International Education Award to India in 2016. By invitation from the US Embassy in Greece and the Greek Ministry of Education, he conducted capacity-building workshops for study abroad in Greece in 2019. He serves as Academic Director for the NYU Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed Scholars Program and the NYUAD Summer Academy.