Critical whiteness scholars have described whiteness as a system of oppression that privileges White identities above others and perpetuates White supremacy. On the college campus, institutional, social, and historical norms reinforce the educational status quo and work together to maintain a system of whiteness that marginalizes Black students.…

This dissertation presents the first known Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) investigation of how marginalized students are included in syllabi. This study fills a gap in the literature due to the changing demographic of college students, the absence of faculty who share these marginalized identities, the syllabus being the first…

Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color (BIPOC) medical student wellness has been studied almost exclusively by utilizing quantitative research methods. Few studies have looked at BIPOC medical student wellness through qualitative research methods. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was utilized to study BIPOC medical student wellness…

Despite increasing interest in broadening diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in engineering, its student population remains relatively homogenous. Across higher education, disabled people continue to be a largely ignored and marginalized population. The experiences of the disabled community are notably absent from DEI efforts in…

The COVID-19 pandemic can be understood through a trauma-informed lens, as the cumulative and chronic health, financial, and interpersonal stressors can be considered traumatic and may lead to long-term psychological distress. Unfortunately, this pandemic has greater impacts on marginalized populations, including those from racial and ethnic…

This autoethnographic dissertation research explores Critical White Studies (CWS) and racial trauma and their impact on Students of Color in a higher education setting. This study aims to challenge the deficit thinking of white educators who perpetuate racism in higher education. The relationship is examined to dismantle the white ideology of…

This study invokes the theory of self and identity to investigate how multiply marginalized students, namely Black boys subjected to exclusionary discipline, made sense of exclusionary discipline, as well as the ways in which it impacted their identity fashioning processes. An instrumental case study design was employed to understand the…

This research study explored the concept of inclusion at the postsecondary education program (PSE) setting through the perspectives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through a qualitative inquiry. Specifically, this study focused on defining inclusive experiences and making recommendations for increased…

This dissertation study examined the mechanisms inside and outside of school that propel and disrupt student entry to domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). Specifically, this study focused on punitive and isolating responses from school adults that push certain students away from school success and into mechanisms that lead to DMST, such as the…

Schools are recognized as sites where raciolinguistic ideologies operate, impacting Spanish- and African American Vernacular English-speaking students' education. However, it is often assumed that Indian American students are unaffected by these ideologies. This is fueled by headlines about Indian Americans excelling at spelling bee competitions,…

The concept of sense of belonging is a critical component of student success, retention, and well-being in higher education, particularly for underrepresented students. This dissertation examines the lived experiences of Black students and explores how sense of belonging impacts their collegiate experiences as members of historically white…

At present, California community colleges serve a large proportion of Black students, but these students are not adequately supported to reach their educational goals (The Campaign for College Opportunity, 2019; National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2022; Cross & Carman, 2022 Simpson, J., & Bista, K., 2021). Extensive research…

Whiteness fits the broad historical concept of property as it represents a social and material value as well as historical legal rights (Harris, 1993). Harris (1993) traced the history of racialization as justification for which people were legally citizens with the ability of self-possession and which people were relegated as the property of…

The qualitative study examined the mental health aspects of marginalized elementary school students in addition to constructing and implementing a culturally responsive and sustaining mindfulness program to observe if there were improvements regarding emotional regulation and awareness. To achieve this, I constructed a culturally responsive and…

The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore how deaf college students tell stories reflecting on acculturation experiences at a four-year university in California. The problem addressed by this study was the lack of knowledge about the acculturation experiences of deaf college students on campuses. The target population was deaf…