This critical autoethnographic study explored my multifaceted journey of being Black and female in administration within a predominately white higher education institution. I drew upon personal narratives and reflections from 25 years of experience in higher education. This study explored the intricate intersections of race, gender, and power…

Positive mentoring experiences are crucial for retaining and advancing those who hold marginalized identities in STEM, as they foster a greater sense of belonging and self-efficacy that encourage these students to persist in their fields. Marginalized identities in STEM include, but are not limited to, women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People…

This study sought to document the lived experiences of women who teach in rural Iowa secondary schools. It aims to bring light to the ways in which rural women teachers experience power, marginalization, and oppression in their personal and professional lives. Additionally, this project hopes to provide insight for rural school leaders into how…

The study aimed to assess how intersectional factors such as race, gender identity, occupation, or other markers of one's identity may contribute to the attrition of Black women special education teachers. More specifically, this study sought to reveal the unique challenges that Black women in special education experience as opposed to the…

Coloniality permeates across realms and leaves no systemic stone unturned in its path. As such, coloniality manifests in our education system through a variety of practices, policies, and procedures that center Western-European modern rationality and White supremacy. To disrupt and decenter these unilateral paradigms within our schools is to…

In the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly one million international students from over 200 countries enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions, marking a 12% increase from the previous year (Martel & Baer, 2022). Despite representing 5.6% of the total U.S. higher education population, asylum-seeking students remained an overlooked…

The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges and barriers that exist for recent college graduates with multiple historically marginalized identities in their early career development as they worked through occupational attainment, newcomer adjustment, and person-organization. Furthermore, the study aimed to learn about the strategies…

Sexual minority individuals (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and others; LGBQ+) have higher rates of mental health problems compared to heterosexual individuals (e.g., Rogers et al., 2021). Minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) proposes that LGBQ+ individuals have higher rates of mental health problems due to the results of institutionalized…

In 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis Police. As social media and news outlets reported on Floyd's death, racial justice activists began to organize under the Black Lives Matter movement. The United States was also on lockdown due to the global pandemic -- COVID-19. Prior researchers have noted that the lockdown…

This dissertation explores the identity development of Muslim American women (N = 25) in higher education, utilizing intersectionality as both a methodological and theoretical framework. First and foremost, it centers the lived experiences, agency, and autonomy of Muslim women throughout the findings. Second, it takes into account the intersecting…

The United States is becoming more ethnically, linguistically, and social-economically diverse, yet opportunity gaps have persisted between White students and students of color; therefore, educational practitioners must find ways to meet and respectfully evolve their practices to support all students, but more particularly students of color who…