Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Surprise, Sensemaking, And Success In The First College Year: Black Undergraduate Men’S Academic Adjustment Experiences, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Christopher B. Newman

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Success In These Schools? Visual Counternarratives Of Young Men Of Color And Urban High Schools They Attend, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

The overwhelming majority of published scholarship on urban high schools in the United States focuses on problems of inadequacy, instability, underperformance, and violence. Similarly, across all schooling contexts, most of what has been written about young men of color continually reinforces deficit narratives about their educational possibility. Taken together, images of Black and Latino male students in inner-city schools often manufacture dark, hopeless visualizations of imperiled youth and educational environments. Using photographic data from a study of 325 college-bound juniors and seniors attending 40 public New York City high schools, this article counterbalances one-sided mischaracterizations of young men of color …

Matriculating Masculinity: Understanding Undergraduate Men’S Precollege Gender Socialization, Frank Harris Iii, Ed.D., Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Social scientists, educational researchers, postsecondary educators (including student affairs professionals), and others have attempted to understand problematic behavioral trends and developmental outcomes among undergraduate men. Little attention has been devoted to examining the masculine identities and ideals about manhood that these students bring to college contexts, hence the purpose of this study. The sample comprised 68 undergraduate men representing a range of backgrounds and subgroups. Findings indicate that parental influences, interactions with same-sex peers, and involvement in youth sports were socializing factors informing ideas about masculinity that students brought with them to college. Recommendations for supporting the college transitions and …

Beyond Bad Behaving Brothers: Productive Performances Of Masculinities Among College Fraternity Men, Frank Harris Iii, Ed.D., Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Research on fraternity men focuses almost exclusively on problematic behaviors such as homophobia and sexism, alcohol abuse, violence against women, sexual promiscuity, and the overrepresentation of members among campus judicial offenders. Consequently, little is known about those who perform masculinities in healthy and productive ways. Presented in this article are findings from a qualitative study of productive masculinities and behaviors among 50 undergraduate fraternity men from 44 chapters across the U.S. and Canada. Findings offer insights into participants’ steadfast commitments to the fraternity’s espoused values; their acceptance and appreciation of members from a range of diverse backgrounds; strategies they employed …

Black Men As College Athletes: The Real Win-Loss Record, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Point of view published on the back cover of The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 24, 2014.

(Re)Setting The Agenda For College Men Of Color: Lessons Learned From A 15-Year Movement To Improve Black Male Student Success, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Between 1997 and 2012, much was done on college campuses and elsewhere to improve Black male student achievement. Notwithstanding, their enrollments, academic performance, and rates of baccalaureate degree attainment remain just as troublesome now as they were 15 years ago. But why? And what can be learned as various stakeholders introduce future initiatives in response to issues affecting Black undergraduate men, as well as Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI), Latino, and Native American male collegians? In this chapter, I chronicle the 15-year emphasis on Black male students in U.S. higher education. I first catalogue a range of efforts enacted between 1997 …

In Search Of Progressive Black Masculinities: Critical Self-Reflections On Gender Identity Development Among Black Undergraduate Men, Keon M. Mcguire, Ph.D., Jonathan Berhanu, Charles H.F. Davis Iii, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

During the last several decades, research concerning the developmental trajectories, experiences, and behaviors of college men as ‘‘gendered’’ persons has emerged. In this article, we first critically review literature on Black men’s gender development and expressions within college contexts to highlight certain knowledge gaps. We then conceptualize and discuss progressive Black masculinities by relying on Mutua’s germinal work on the subject. Further, we engage Black feminist scholarship, both to firmly situate our more pressing argument for conceptual innovation and to address knowledge gaps in the literature on Black men’s gender experiences. It is our belief that scholars who study gender …

Succeeding In The City: A Report From The New York City Black And Latino Male High School Achievement Study, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., And Researchers From The Center For The Study Of Race And Equity In Education

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

This report is the first publication from the New York City Black and Latino Male High School Achievement Study, a project that entailed individual interviews with 415 students from 40 public high schools – 90 were enrolled in 44 colleges and universities, the rest were college-bound high school juniors and seniors. Understanding how these young men succeeded in and out of school, developed college aspirations, became college-ready, and navigated their ways to postsecondary education was the primary aim of this project. Instead of further amplifying deficits and documenting failures in urban schools, 13 Black and Latino male researchers from the …

His Experience: Toward A Phenomenological Understanding Of Academic Capital Formation Among Black And Latino Male Students, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Collin D. Williams Jr., David Pérez Ii, Ph.D., Demetri L. Morgan

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

St. John, Hu, and Fisher (2011) define academic capital formation as “social processes that build family knowledge of educational and career options and support navigation through educational systems.” The authors suggest that particular interventions, programs, and services can equip students from lower-income backgrounds and their families with knowledge of and membership in networks that ultimately help them access colleges and universities, attain postsecondary degrees, and transition into the middle class. This chapter focuses on academic capital formation among Black and Latino male students, with a particular emphasis on giving voice to their navigational experiences along various dimensions of the St. …

Attracting Black Male Students To Research Careers In Education: A Report From The Grad Prep Academy Project, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Andrew C. Porter, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

This report is about the University of Pennsylvania’s Grad Prep Academy, a project that prepares Black undergraduate men for graduate study and research-related careers in the field of education. The project is also a longitudinal research study that enables us to analyze Black men’s trajectories from undergraduate study through graduate degree programs and eventually into their careers. Eighteen students participated in our first two cohorts of Academy Scholars. The project described in this report, as well as the recommendations we offer, can be instructive for other schools of education and a range of stakeholders who are concerned about the diversity …