This paper results from a reflection promoted by Danielle Ferguson and Catherine Martin-Dunlop's paper, "Uncovering stories of resilience among successful African American women in STEM." In that paper, Ferguson and Martin-Dunlop analyze eight Black women's life stories and reveal their strategies to succeed in hostile STEM (science,…

Dr. Joanne Cacciatore is a research professor at Arizona State University, a bereavement educator, and the founder of the MISS Foundation. Her research focuses on traumatic grief and loss. In this interview, Dr. Cacciatore offers her thoughts on grief, some misconceptions, and her notion of fierce compassion. The interviewers and Dr. Cacciatore…

The 2020 quote defining the pandemic era was "The New Normal," which, for Black women, implies a need for structural and personal transformation. In this essay, we incorporate the concepts of culturally relevant pedagogy (Bell & Jackson, 2021) and critical autoethnography (Boylorn, 2020; Boylorn & Orbe, 2021) to amplify a Black…

As an assistant editor in the Photography department at the New York Times, the author manages a team of seven visual editors who assign photographers to stories all over the globe. Recently, one of her team members approached her to let her know that the amount of violence he was subjected to was having an effect on his mental state. It made the…

Faced with unprecedented challenges, students continue to learn during a global pandemic. This new atmosphere of learning comes with a host of challenges, ranging from financial hardships to mental and physical exhaustion. Students and faculty have had to make the shift to online learning, in some instances, in a matter of days. Despite the…

In this autoethnographic article I reflect on my experiences as a now-tenured faculty member of color, which have been punctuated by incivility, bullying, stress, and abuse. As part of reconciling several acute events, I came to a distinct realization of what I had been going through; I was able to name it, and I was able to articulate the…

Mental health is different than mental illness. Yet, public and professional's views of mental health often confuses the two terms. This commentary explores what mental health is, what components consist of a mentally healthy person, and how one can improve and enhance mental health among youth.

This transcript presents a portion of a conversation that occurred on May 8, 2020 between Sia Elle Brown, a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and Ikal Fireseed (pseudonym), a leader at a school for Indigenous students in the American Southwest.

Dr. Tracey Burns is a Senior Analyst in the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. She heads a portfolio of projects including Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, 21st Century Children and Trends Shaping Education. Until recently she was also responsible for the OECD work on Governing Complex Education systems. Previous to…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous stress and trauma for students and educators, exacerbating existing needs for mental health support and underscoring the importance of social and emotional learning. With the new school year on the horizon, it is vital for educators to consider the social and emotional needs of students and staff as some…

Limitations come in many forms for educators of color: access, opportunities, networks, but perhaps most crucially, through forms of invalidation. Toward healing, some educators of color have written about the isolation and trauma they have experienced on college campuses. Other have written in the spirit of resistance, boasting about the skills,…

In this contribution to the Special Issue of Studies in Higher Education, I describe developments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dutch higher education along three lines. First, the context is outlined in chronological order. It concerns the evolution of the pandemic in the Netherlands, complemented by the general situation at my own university…

Drawing upon an ongoing school mental health survey being conducted in California, this article examines associations between high school students' mental wellness, including covitality (as measured with the Social Emotional Health Survey--Secondary), and school safety perceptions and experiences. Student self-reports reveal a strong positive…

The Early Career Spotlight column aims to illustrate accomplishments, or problems that are overcome, by early career school psychologists. In each column, a different school psychologist or NASP leader is featured. This issue features questions and answers with Libby Malone, who works as a school psychologist for Denver Public Schools at West…

In this autoethnographic article, I explore my experiences as an early career Academic of Color. Drawing on previous theoretical constructions such as the Strong Black Woman schema (SBW), I present these experiences through the lens of DC Comics' Vixen, a Black female superhero. This research highlights systemic disparities in the treatment of…