Broadening participation in STEM education programs and boosting the STEM workforce, specifically increasing interest in engineering, has been a growing focus of the U.S. education system (Lawrence & Mancus, 2012; Strimel, Grubbs, & Wells, 2017). The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects overall STEM employment to grow by 8.9% from 2014 to…

Context: Women are largely underrepresented in science fields in academe, and most often issues with motherhood and career-life balancing are identified as reasons. In athletic training, career-life balancing has become the dominant factor in women leaving the field, as they feel they cannot fulfill the roles of mother, spouse, and athletic…

Black students have been historically overrepresented in special education in public school settings across the United States. This dissertation explored teacher awareness, education, perceptions, practices, training, and utilization of the Intervention & Referral Service Process (I&RS) as factors contributing to the overrepresentation of…

"The Talent Blind Spot," which is divided into two reports, demonstrates that, each year, more than 50,000 high-achieving, low- and moderate-income community college students do not transfer to a four-year institution. Approximately 15,000 of these students have a 3.7 GPA or higher, which suggests they could succeed at even the most…

The second INCLUDES Summit, held in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 24-25, 2018, brought together institutional leaders and context experts from various institutions and organizations to participate in the INCLUDES initiative on broadening the participation of women and underrepresented minorities within STEM faculty and student bodies. This second…

In this report, we describe the college outcomes of three cohorts of 12th grade students in the Houston Independent School District, prior to the implementation of the district's college advising program. We find significant racial and ethnic disparities in postsecondary enrollment and completion, with Hispanics, in particular, exhibiting low…

The implementation of Title IX has increased women's participation rates in intercollegiate athletics tenfold, yet women's representation in athletic leadership remains marginal compared to men. As such, the purpose of this study was to understand the social construction of gender as it relates to intercollegiate athletic leadership at Eastern…

Native Americans continue to be one of the lowest represented ethnic groups in postsecondary education and present some of the lowest retention/graduation rates of any group. In the interest of supporting all students, this study examines Native American students' notions of success as well as their academic and personal experiences in a majority…

This dissertation served as a study to address opportunity gaps that exist in urban education. The focus was exploring the problem of college academic readiness of First-generation community college minoritized students enrolled and placed into developmental English courses. One community college in the state of California was used to highlight…

Higher education institutions aim at being more receptive to attract, recruit, and retain diverse students ("Diversity & the Ph.D.," 2005). The increase of racial/ethnic diverse minority doctoral students in counselor education programs has created a need to understand their individual challenges. The dearth of research related to…

As the demographics across the United States continues to change, specifically with increases in school age English Learners who speak a home language other than English, it is imperative that schools meet the diverse needs of these children. This article summarizes studies about English Learners with learning disabilities. It reports on the…

The literature on leadership competencies does not include an understanding of how stakeholders perceive competencies for women and under-represented minority faculty members. We surveyed three groups of leaders (N = 113) to determine their perceptions of the importance of 23 leadership competencies. All three groups endorsed the same five…

The percentage of African Americans who pursue bachelor's degrees and graduate is dismal with less than 40% of the 2009 cohort earning a degree within six-years. For decades researchers have explored why a disproportionate number of minorities do not graduate. In this study, I take an anti-deficit approach to understandings bachelor's degree…

A disturbing fact, we are leaving a great deal of our population behind. Could it be that we as a whole refuse to believe what the statistics portray? African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics are left behind. A fact: about 37 percent of our population is comprised of minorities. More than half the children born in the United States in…

Small businesses with emphasis in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are catalytic in launching the United States' global presence and competitiveness into the twenty-first century through innovation and technology. The projected growth compared to non-STEM occupations, is almost twice as high for STEM occupations which further…