Ray Black shares the story of creating the Black Male Think Tank, an informal community for black men at his historically white institution. He tells how black male students turned to him in confusion after charges of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby and various police killings of young black men. The students needed a safe place in which to…

Women and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority faculty (URM) are critical to developing inclusive learning environments. Career counselors can benefit from understanding the factors influencing women's and URMs' interest in academic careers, as this population remains markedly underrepresented in academic medicine. A mixed methods study was…

UMass' flagship Amherst campus has become increasingly prestigious over the last decade and a half. The growing prominence of UMass Amherst has made the school competitive with the nation's most elite public universities. However, the policies that have largely driven the school's standings have controversial implications for Massachusetts…

There is a belief in higher education that Latino/a faculty do not possess the skills necessary to succeed in academe (Verdugo, 1995). The Latino/a population represents 17% of the total population in the United States. Although the Latino/a population is growing, the rate at which they are obtaining doctoral degrees remains low. During the…

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand the processes school counselors engage in to effectively meet the educational needs of African American boys with disabilities in special education. The aim of the study was to generate theory to provide an explanation of the processes leading to African American boys being placed in…

This dissertation study explored high school administrators' beliefs about why racial disproportionality exists, sought to understand the local practices that contribute to disproportionality, and identified interventions and supports that impact disproportionality in the special education referral, eligibility, and placement process. Research…

Bias issues in this country are real. Individuals are not treated equally and equitably because of their identities, their values, and their choices. This bias happens in places of employment, in the criminal justice system, in every day interactions and conversations. Bias is real, whether implicit or explicit, and too often compassion and equity…

In Division III athletics, women hold 30% of athletic director positions, a percentage that has decreased when women held 90% of athletic director positions for women's athletics in 1972, which was the enactment of Title IX (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014). This study used role congruity theory as its conceptual framework to examine how…

Despite the great advances women have made in higher education, women remain underrepresented in both leadership positions and the computing major. After college, women are underrepresented across technical careers and especially in leadership positions. This study contends with these gender inequities by focusing on gender and the leadership…

Some of the most dynamic and demanding careers are in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, when analyzing gender, there are great disparities among gender in STEM. Statistics indicate females are vastly underrepresented and males are employed double the rate of females. Leading STEM companies are…

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall employment in computing-related occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2021 to 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations. Moreover, computing-related fields make up almost half of all STEM jobs in Illinois and employment in computing-related fields is more…

Background: Summer camps can promote positive youth development. Unfortunately, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities contribute to inequities in camp participation and related research on marginalized youth. Consequently, it is not clear what types of camping programs work best for marginalized youth. Purpose: To conduct a quasi-experimental…

The current study utilized the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, from the National Center for Education Statistics, to conduct a longitudinal investigation into how access to school counseling impacts postsecondary outcomes. Findings indicate that school counselor time spent college readiness counseling, in addition to lower student…

For young women, inbound identity trajectories into physics are generally regarded as exceptional. In this study, we investigated the experiences that young women have which may support their sustained interest and achievement in physics, and their ongoing inbound trajectories into post-secondary physics education. To understand these experiences,…

Objective: Investigate the association of positivity with generalized anxiety and the mediating roles of resilience and sense of belonging in underrepresented college students. Participants: College students (N = 425; 18.4% White, 17.9% Black, 40.2% Hispanic, 20.2% Asian; 38.1% first-generation; M[subscript age] = 19.06; 63.1% female) completed an…