This three-study dissertation explored: "How are higher education stakeholders radically (re)imagining liberatory, abolitionist, decolonizing, and queering futures within U.S. higher education and beyond?" With diverse cohorts of Collaborators, I examined this question through a bricolage methodology (Hammersley, 2008), which blended the…

In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education research, the intersection of performance-based funding policy, export control laws, and research endeavors presents a complex web of challenges and opportunities. This dissertation explores this intricate interplay through two distinct yet interconnected lenses. The first paper, a law review…

The "First-Generation CORE Project: Cultivating Opportunities, Resources, & Equity" was designed to better understand and support first-generation college students. First-generation college students are defined as individuals whose parents have not yet attained a four-year college degree and are considered an underrepresented student…

This study explored the experiences and contributions of South Asian Americans actively engaged in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the realm of higher education. The research question that framed this study was: What are the lived experiences of South Asian American DEI educators in higher education? Supporting…

This qualitative constructivist grounded theory study used an integrated intersectional lens and Chicana feminist epistemology to examine how nine queer Latina leaders in higher education experienced their racialized and heterogendered positioning within higher education structures, how this shaped the everyday experiences of their work, and how…

The principal purpose of this doctoral study was to investigate how intersectionality is understood and utilized by practitioners within the field of student affairs in North American higher education. Additionally, the study explored how intersectionality is applied to student affairs practitioners' student development and identity development…

This qualitative study aims to under the professional development experiences of Black women at Delaware's higher learning institutions. The study addresses the limited research on Black female higher education professional within a specific state. The phenomenological qualitative methodology allowed the researcher to tell the stories of…

Eight disabled white women disability services directors shared their experiences working in disability services in higher education. The ten principles of disability justice provided the framework for this interpretative phenomenological analysis. Individual interviews were used to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of the…

Structured from a qualitative research design, this meta-synthesis explored the lived experiences and perceptions women of color hold regarding their leadership within higher education. The purpose of the study was to generate understanding of said experiences and examine women of color leadership persistence within higher education, especially…

LGBTQ rights have progressed tremendously in recent times, not long ago LGBTQ individuals could be arrested simply for being themselves. Though many rights have been won, the fight for equity continues. This is especially true in the field of education, many think of higher education as a pathway to equity, but in reality it can serve to solidify…

The cross-racial collaborations of Black women and white individuals in the academy are fraught and complex, as their livelihoods are connected to larger socio-political structures and intersecting systems of oppression, namely race and gender (Crenshaw, 1989, 1990). In this study, I engaged in the research alongside three Black women, two white…

This study examines how I, as a white woman social justice educator at a southeastern public university, practiced gendered racism and was supported in these practices by administrators at my institution. White women have been socialized throughout history to use our gender subordination as a defense when confronted with our racism. I built a…

This paper addresses the intersecting professional and personal lives of educators who identify as Queer, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (QBIPOC). The narratives of these intersecting identities are told through the lived experiences of individuals who identify as QBIPOC. People who do not identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,…

Historically, higher education was established for the privileged few. Enslaved Black people set free to fend for themselves in "separate but equal" sub-standard schools found a way to flourish despite the odds; yet not without a price and not without the sweat, blood, and tears of their ancestors. Critical Race Theory stated that race,…

Black women juggling marginalized minority identities in executive leadership at public four-year universities contend with stigmas associated with race and gender, contributing to a decreased sense of belonging. Significant research has been done about the journeys of Black or African American women as they seek executive roles in higher…