With the increasing focus on the critical importance of mentoring in advancing Black women students from graduation to careers in academia, this book identifies and considers the peer mentoring ...contexts and conditions that support Black women student success in higher education. This edited collection focuses on Black women students primarily at the doctoral level and how they have retained each other through their educational journey, emphasizing how they navigated this season of educational changes given COVID and racial unrest. Chapters illuminate what minoritized women students have done to mentor each other to navigate unwelcome campus environments laden with identity politics and other structural barriers. Shining a light on systemic structures in place that contribute to Black women’s alienation in the academy, this book unpacks implications for interactions and engagement with faculty as advisors and mentors. An important resource for faculty and graduate students at colleges and universities, ultimately this work is critical to helping the academy fortify Black women’s sense of belonging and connection early in their academic career and foster their success.
Among the theories that have been advanced for improving the participation of students in STEM is the postulation that family involvement in students' schooling is critical, as early as the ...precollege years. The prevalence of knowledge about the importance of familial support for students' success in STEM fields notwithstanding, the corpus of scholarship that explores the nexus between family support and Black student STEM success is limited. In this article, the authors utilize data collected through interviews, focus groups, and demographic questionnaires to explore the influence of immediate and extended family members in the STEM trajectories of eight undergraduates who were born in-or whose parents emigrated from-African or Caribbean countries. The qualitative study is grounded in Coleman's theory of social capital, which posits that there are 3 forms of social capital that families can bestow on children. These forms of social capital are: (a) obligations, expectations, and trustworthiness of structures; 2) information channels; and 3) norms and effective sanctions. Results from this investigation reveal that parents were intentional about the decisions that they made in their children's K-12 school years and that families sought out ways to support students through cocurricular engagement. Implications include a call to develop programs of support that recognize the important and often unique role that families and community play in the lives of Black (immigrant-origin) students, particularly those who are pursuing STEM degrees.
Informed by the literature and professional practice, this chapter examines the unique mentoring challenges facing women and underrepresented minorities in higher education. Findings indicate that ...traditional mentoring approaches fall short in fully supporting the needs of underrepresented populations in higher education.
Many studies suggest that faculty support is an important determinant in Black male student’s retention in STEM disciplines, yet few have deeply described how these dyadic bonds are formed. The ...current study investigates the subtle dynamics that characterize the relationships that occur between STEM faculty and Black male students. Using narrative inquiry and thematic analysis to analyze a longitudinal qualitative dataset of Black men in the sciences, several themes were most prominent. Black men shared a desire to transcend beyond “basic relationships” with faculty, eschewing superficiality and instead seeking more personal bonds. When participants perceived a change in faculty members’ behaviors, this signaled a reciprocated desire to develop more genuine relationships. Findings demonstrate the complex interplay of perceived faculty behaviors and attitudes that facilitate relationships, and affirm Black men in science courses. Implications from this study strongly urge faculty to reconsider the timing and importance of validating students, both on an individual- and departmental-level.
Black engineering transfer students face unique challenges while navigating the transfer process from a community college to a 4-year institution. The purpose of this paper is to better understand ...the experiences of these students and the ways in which they adjust to the 4-year school. We identify specific challenges noted by Black engineering transfer students in their experiences related to: (1) heuristics of teaching and learning that they had to adapt to in order to successfully navigate new campus environments; (2) information gaps that students encountered in what faculty seemed to expect them to already know; and (3) problems in having to adjust to the differences in the academic demands of the 4-year engineering program. In addition to unpacking our findings along these specific domains, we attend to the potential impact of having these challenges in a large, urban, metropolitan area.
National reports show surprisingly low percentages of Black students represented in STEM fields. These startlingly low numbers of Black STEM graduates results in fewer African American scientists and ...leaders in STEM. Drawing upon a qualitative database spanning nearly 20years this study examines the experiences of high achieving Black males studying primarily in STEM fields. This article focuses on three non-academic themes that heme consistently emerged across the work that demonstrate the nuanced ways that self-confidence, developing meaningful relationship and the ability to recognize and nemi gate stereotypes, bias and racism impact success for Black males in STEM.
This chapter is based on a multiyear study of 110 physics majors at colleges and universities across the United States. Its focus was on understanding their interactions with faculty and peers, ...experiences in their respective physics programs, and the extent to which they were motivated by race to succeed as scientists.
Foreign-born students of color arrive in the United States with racial and cultural orientations specific to their country of origin, which are often quite distinct from issues of race and racism ...within the U.S. context. This qualitative study examines the college experiences of 15 foreign-born students of color to address the research question: How do foreign-born students of color perceive and respond to racialized experiences and their racial minority status in the United States? The findings of this study reveal that traditional frameworks on race and racial identity development do not fully capture the perceptions and behaviors of foreign-born students of color. Our data reveal patterns that we offer as an emergent framework on Learning Race in a U.S. Context (LRUSC). Understanding how foreign-born students make meaning of racialization in the United States can give education researchers and practitioners more holistic insight into the educational experiences of this growing student population.
