This piece is a commentary on the papers included in the special issue on the racial/ethnic diversity of the special education teacher workforce.

People of color who choose careers in higher education may encounter microaggressions, marginalization, and other unpleasant situations. This narrative shares the experiences and perspectives of one African-American academic's experiences with the intent of encouraging academic professionals from underrepresented populations to persevere.

In this case narrative, senior superintendents reckon with the challenges of implementing a revised strategic policy for student discipline in an intensified work environment. Challenges include: (a) providing professional learning to familiarize leaders and educators with regulatory requirements; (b) a problematic trend of school and district…

Applying the concept of ruling relations--everyday norms, assumptions, logics, and social interactions that structure people's everyday lives (Smith, 1999)--to STEM underrepresented minority (URM) graduate student experiences provides a unique and important way to understand how inequality can be integrated into the graduate student socialization…

Background: The relevance of outdoor adventure education (OAE) programs to diverse participants has been questioned by numerous scholars. Limited research exists about similarities in learning outcomes across categories of difference such as race and socioeconomic status. Purpose: This study focused on understanding how learning outcomes differed…

Using the example of cross-cultural philosophy's relation to disciplinary philosophy, this article seeks to think through some of the issues relevant to diversifying philosophy as an academic discipline. Guided by James Tully's ruminations on non-domination, it attempts to make a case for a practice of philosophy which is more attuned to its…

Background: As institutions and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments emphasize faculty use of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs), various barriers and faculty perceptions hinder that process. While a large body of literature exists in this area, no survey instrument has been developed to comprehensively…

Poor gender, ethnic, and racial diversity in the geosciences and most of STEM indicates that current approaches to facilitating inclusion and equity are not complete. The prevailing academic culture in the United States tends to value "low-context" approaches to learning, such as encouraging individuated work, adhering to strict time…

Systems thinking, interdisciplinary research projects, and creative problem solving are ways to frame modern chemistry curricula to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers, and citizens to use their skills and education to create a sustainable future. By integrating planetary boundaries, green chemistry, and the UN…

Understanding why women are consistently underrepresented in STEM fields has been a constant puzzle, with a consistent feature of the puzzle being performance in math. This study uses data from TIMSS exams to investigate cross-national gender differences in math-related affect, more precisely liking mathematics, confidence in mathematics, and…

Although there is much interest in pursuing a STEM career, many students choose not to or drop out prior to completing their STEM degrees for numerous reasons. In this research study, the focus is on supports that may increase overall STEM retention as well as underrepresented minority (URM) retention in STEM degrees consequently leading to a more…

While the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) can be used for all populations, there is a gap between Awareness: Attitudes and Belief, Knowledge, Skills, and Application. As many underrepresented groups are increasingly becoming a major part of the demographic transformation, being culturally competent is critical. We examined the…

In this qualitative study, we investigated the perceptions of 13 faculty members and leaders of color, from different nationalities, and at three universities in the United States of America regarding minority leadership challenges and opportunities. The aim of the research was to identify obstacles that lead to discouraging and isolating faculty…

While it's school building looks like something straight out of Harry Potter, Washington Leadership Academy is best-known for its visionary thinking. One of only 10 schools in the U.S. to receive a $10 million grant from XQ: The Super School Project, the public charter is immersing its mostly minority, low-income students in technology--giving…

Background: Women and students of color are widely underrepresented in the majority of STEM fields. In order to investigate this underrepresentation, we interviewed over 200 male and female college seniors, primarily women and people of color, who either majored in STEM or started but dropped a STEM major. Here, we focus on one section of the…