Taking Up Space: A Phenomenological Study Of The Shared Experiences Of Black Women In Stem Graduate Programs At Predominantly White Institutions, Ebony C. Blackwell

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., marginalized populations are underrepresented in STEM. Specifically, there is a disparity in the number of Black women attaining STEM graduate degrees and entering the STEM workforce. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to examine the essence of the shared experiences of Black women currently enrolled in STEM graduate programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), in order to increase retention of Black women through STEM graduate programs and into careers; as well as to use participant’s experiences to expose any barriers they encountered related to their educational pursuits, and examine how they were able to navigate …

Supports Used By Black Women Faculty For Career Advancement At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Andrea Delpriore

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study investigated the supports utilized by Black women in their career advancement as faculty members at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Although there is an abundance of scholarship about the challenges presented to Black women faculty at Predominantly White Institutions, the career advancement of Black women faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities has gone largely unstudied. Considering Historically Black Colleges and Universities are where Black women faculty achieve tenure in the highest percentages, this study took a non-deficit perspective and investigated what supports are used by Black women faculty internal to the institution, external to the institution, as …

Deverne Calloway: “I Am A Teacher---I Will Teach”, Holly Hick

Dissertations

In 1962, DeVerne Calloway was the first Black woman elected to the Missouri General Assembly and the first Black woman elected to any public office in the state of Missouri. A political activist and educator by nature, a legislator by trade, DeVerne has decades of historically documented critical work within the intersections of race, gender, and class. Her work, though well documented, remains undertheorized. This study seeks to explore DeVerne’s life and work through Black feminist theory and Critical Race Theory’s tenets of intersectionality and interest convergence, ultimately tracing her actions as a public intellectual. Written as an educational biography, …

On Love And Treason: Critical White Feminist Thought For Social Justice Praxis, Amanda Joyce Parker

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation is a theoretical piece that examines the positionality of white women in upholding white supremacy and a framework for critical white feminist thought that will move white women toward a self-reflexive and self-implicating praxis. A white matriarchy (Parker, 2018) is fully conceptualized as part of a powerful subsystem that operates under white supremacy. Concepts, such as a race-gender bribe and white women’s negative solidarity (Combahee River Collective, 1977), are exposed and discussed as part of the workings of white matriarchy. White emotionality (Matias, 2015), intergenerational whiteness, and antiracist parenting are also analyzed. I also suggest possibilities for resistance …

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy And First-Generation Latinx Student Sense Of Belonging, Rachel Abel

Dissertations

This qualitative research study assessed the impact of culturally relevant pedagogy on first-generation Latinx student sense of belonging at an emerging Hispanic serving institution (HSI). This study adds to current literature around culturally relevant pedagogy, which focused on the close, meaningful relationships between faculty and students in the classroom (Ladson-Billings, Gay, Wlodkowski, & Ginsberg, Stembridge, et al.). The link to sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997) demonstrated the importance of academic and non-academic setting connections that led to other social and academic outcomes, which include student satisfaction, motivation to study, and perseverance in completion of a post-secondary. A transformative …

Black Students At-Risk: The Problem Of Overrepresentation In The Student Success Program At Fss, Ekwutosi Onyedimma Odozor

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

In Farmside Secondary School (FSS), Black students are disproportionately identified as "at-risk" and are overrepresented on the student success teacher list. The school climate survey, supported by literature, indicates that racialized students feel targeted, excluded and marginalized in their classrooms. In FSS, social stressors such as systemic oppression, deficit interpretations, non-inclusive learning environments, and inadequate access to supportive structures create gaps. Given the threats these social stressors pose to Black student success, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) frames the problem within the context of FSS and provides transformative approaches to the problem. While this OIP creates awareness of the …

Queering Secondary Education: An Inquiry To The Necessity Of Queer Studies For All Students, Ashlign D. Shoemaker

Honors Theses

In the current state of secondary education, queer studies are appallingly underexposed. The subject matter is often completely disregarded due to a perceived discomfort around themes and content regarding LGBTQ+ sexualities. This process of elimination is a disservice to all students as they continue their education and move on to the adult world. Queer studies must be included for all students to ensure a society of empathy and understanding. Including the queer identity in the secondary education, classroom gives LGBTQ+ students the usable past that is essential to their wellbeing and mental health, and it provides exposure and understanding for …

Exploration Of The Intersection Of Social Identities Of Female Leaders In Postsecondary Education: A Phenomenological Approach, Sara Shaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of female leaders currently in leadership roles in postsecondary education. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted to explore intersecting identities and how the identities affected female leaders’ leadership experiences and decision-making processes. Through the theoretical framework of intersectionality, I explored the relationships among females, leadership, career decision-making, and other categorical social identities. Data gathered from semi-structured one-on-one interviews and demographic surveys with 11 female postsecondary leaders sought to understand how gender and selected social identities affect career decision-making of women in postsecondary leadership positions. The researcher identified seven themes: …

Experiences In Physical Education And Sport: The Intersection Of Identifying As A Female, An Athlete, And Visually Impaired, Margaret Buckley

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Introduction. Individuals with visual impairments, females, and athletes encounter different challenges during physical education. However, little is known about how the challenges connected with each of these identities intersect and if that intersection impacts experiences differently. The purpose of this study was to take an explicitly intersectional approach to understand how identifying as an individual with a visual impairment, a female, and an athlete intersect to influence physical education and sport experiences. Methods. To describe the participants’ intersectional experiences as female athletes with a visual impairment, an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research approach was implemented. Four female athletes with visual …

The Battlefield Of The Academy: The Resilience And Resistance Of Black Women Faculty, Jacqueline Hester

Theses and Dissertations

This research study explored the resilience of 8 Black women faculty teaching at historically white institutions (HWIs). Crenshaw's (1991) intersectionality, Ladson-Billings and Tate, (1995) critical race theory, and resilience theory are the three theoretical frameworks used in this study to examine the experience of Black women faculty in HWIs. The purpose of this study was to address these experiences to advance the conceptual understanding of resilience as a form of resistance. The research methodology selected involved a qualitative study that used narrative inquiry as a platform for Black women faculty to share their personal narratives and examined the strategies that …

Women Leaders In Social Entrepreneurship: Leadership Perception, And Barriers, Almas Aldawood

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Social entrepreneurship increases women’s social inclusion and empowerment by providing self-employment opportunities (Datta & Gailey, 2012). There is growing attention, locally and globally, to social entrepreneurship from economic, social, environmental, and industrial lenses (Cornforth, 2014.) Grounded by feminist and empowerment theories, this phenomenological case study investigated the perceptions of women social entrepreneurs about leadership. In addition, the study explored the barriers to effective leadership in social entrepreneurship.

A total of five participants participated in this study. The participants were five women leaders in social enterprise with experience in the field ranged from 3-40 years. Data was collected through multiple avenues …

Performances Of An Able, Academic Mind, Caleb Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Western culture individualizes issues of public health. This is especially clear in academic life, where the structures of the university disable atypical bodies and minds in order to force them to simultaneously perform the roles of scholar, teacher, and colleague. The university not only fails to accommodate afflicted minds and bodies, it also produces more precarity in the process. This project is a performance ethnography of my time in the academy, starting with my life as an undergraduate being disciplined into academic life, moving toward recruitment for graduate school, and ending with events surrounding the construction of this very project. …

Investigating The Social Capital & Help-Seeking Behaviors Of High School Latino Foster Youth, Rachel Acosta

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Foster youth in high school face a barrage of obstacles not faced by their peers, obstacles which make it challenging to finish high school and gain acceptance into four-year universities. But foster youth are resilient in ways that we can only begin to understand, navigating how to codeswitch, and speak to social workers, lawyers, foster parents, teachers, and peers to gain the resources they need to be successful. Within the past ten years, there has been a multitude of research on foster youths, which examine mental health, graduation rates, college acceptance, and the importance of mentorship. Missing from the research …

The Triumvirate Woman: Reconceptualizing Academic Career Messages For African American Women In Engineering, Latrice Diane Bonner

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the importance of access, equity, inclusion, and diversity in engineering by intentionally focusing on academic career messages for African American women who are tenured and tenure-track in engineering through the lens of Critical Race Theory, Black feminist thought, and intersectionality. This study illuminates within-group differences at the intersection of race, gender, field, and rank, while incorporating a conceptual framework that examines both the macro and micro perception of higher education. There was also a need to transform simultaneous forms of oppression into sources of empowerment. Therefore, this study utilized empirical research to …

Exploring Intersectional Typologies Of (Dis)Advantage In United States Medical School Applicants, Alison Howe

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Increasing diversity in the medical workforce is necessary to address public health needs and reduce health disparities, particularly in low-income and minority communities. The populations that experience these inequalities are the same populations that remain underrepresented in medicine. Research has demonstrated that social-concordance in the physician-patient dyad is associated with better patient outcomes and that students from underserved communities are more likely to return to practice in underserved areas. Despite academic medicine’s continued commitment to admitting and training diverse individuals to address health disparities and increase cultural competency in medical students, a three-decade trend of the majority of medical students …

Free Ain’T Really Free: A Critical Ethnographical Exploration Of The Experiences Of Queer People Of Color In Postsecondary Education, Antoinette Ebony Jones

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Queer people of color (QPOC), who participate in higher education experience understand the intersectional nature of racial and sexual identity development. This study explores the experiences of thirteen self-identified QPOC who participate in higher education using the Portraiture methodology. It highlights the voices of QPOC as they navigate the processes of coming out while accenting their understanding of their intersecting racial and sexual identities. This study offers a model of racial and sexual identity development based on the narratives of the participants in this study. It highlights their strengths and adaptability as they negotiate and ascribe meaning to their lives …

Understanding The Personal And Academic Experiences Of Graduate Students With Disabilities, Andrea Mozqueda

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative research study explored current graduate students with disabilities personal and academic experiences. The three theoretical frameworks utilized were Disability Studies in Education (DSE), intersectionality and Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to connect how race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability identities impact graduate students with disabilities experiences. This dissertation study had a total of four research questions to explore the impact of graduate students with disabilities higher education experiences. This research study was conducted at three different California higher education institutions: two private universities and one public university. There was a total of twenty graduate student participants interviewed that …

Diversity As Contingent: An Intersectional Ethnographic Interrogation Of And Resistance Against Neoliberal Academia’S Exploitation Of Contingent Faculty In General Education Diversity Courses, Kelly Louise Opdycke

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Since its inception in the late 1970s, neoliberal academia has increasingly relied in under-paid contingent faculty to carry its teaching workload. During this same time, neoliberal academia began to take up ‘diversity’ as a way to sell its brand. This dissertation stands at the crux between diversity branding and the exploitation of contingent faculty. Specifically, I explore how teaching General Education diversity courses through precarity impacts contingent faculty affectively and emotionally. Michel Foucault (1979) describes those who live in the context of neoliberalism as homo economicus, or entrepreneur of the self. As one becomes stuck in contingency, they begin to …

A Study Of Sense Of Belonging And Its Relationship With Engagement, Persistence, And Intersectionality In Higher Education, Christine Lancaster

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A majority of institutions of Higher Education are seeking ways to provide environments that support student persistence in light of the overwhelming evidence of the impact of postsecondary degree attainment and life opportunities for individuals and communities. This study examines the relationships between student engagement, sense of belonging, identity, intersectionality, and student success indicators. For purposes of this study, 561 undergraduate students at a public regional institution provided demographic information, access to student success indicators, and completed a 47- question survey on student engagement and sense of belonging. Factor analysis determined five distinct dimensions of sense of belonging. Structure equation …

Stretching The Dollar: Exploring The Lived Experiences, Multiple Identities, And Class Politics Of Poor And Working-Class Women At The University Of Kentucky, Rachael Deel

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

In the climate of prioritizing retention and pressure to move an increasingly diverse undergraduate population towards degree, it is critical that educational research consider the multiple, overlapping identities of students and how that influences their experiences on campus. The number of low-income students entering four-year institutions is growing each year, including at the University of Kentucky. This study aims to extend our understanding of social class beyond the material and focus on the affective dimensions of class including language, comportment, and leisure activities in an effort to better understand how poor and working-class women contend with the constraints they encounter …

Negotiating My Chineseness In College: The Complexities And Uniqueness Of Being Chinese American, Yan Wang

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Chinese Americans are historically perceived as “perpetual foreigners” in the American political, cultural and racial discourses. People of Chinese descent have long been conceived as sharing a same ancestor as those in China. Situated in the global context of China’s rise in the world, culturally, politically and economically, this research looks at how Chinese American college students negotiate their ethnic identity in the Midwest of the United States. The current Coronavirus outbreak brought new waves of anti-Chinese/Asian sentiment into American political and cultural life. This rhetoric makes the discussion of Chinese American college students’ ethnicity construction crucial.

Using qualitative research …