The underrepresentation of women in the most senior ranks, and senior leadership positions in the academy, is a global phenomenon. How and why women academics experience the higher education profession differently to their male colleagues has been the subject of extensive research. This paper brings a new, original conceptual dimension to our…

Due to structural educational inequity, students who are first-generation, low-income, and certain students of color have lower graduate degree attainment compared to their peers. One national program, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, serves students from these groups to increase the number of students from these…

New May jobs data show that despite greater jobs gains, women's recovery continues to lag behind that of men. Women's jobs on payroll are still 4.2 million below pre-COVID-19 levels, compared with 3.5 million fewer jobs on payroll for men. Further, high jobs deficits in schools and child care centers point to difficulties for employed mothers and…

Advanced coursework opportunities provide high school students with the chance, in theory, to earn college credit while they are still in high school. Common examples of advanced coursework opportunities include Advanced Placement (AP) courses, dual or concurrent enrollment in classes that count for both high school and college credit, and…

African American (also called Black American, or Black) students? performance in higher educational institutes reveal critical issues concerning their matriculation through higher education. A 2014 report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on cohorts of university students from 2004 to 2007 showed the graduation rate of Black…

Help-seeking is an essential tool for student success. Still, students, especially those underrepresented in STEM (UR-STEM) and those underrepresented in chemistry (UR-Chem), may be reluctant to employ help-seeking for academic success. Understanding help-seeking in online courses is crucial for developing equitable learning environments where…

With troop withdrawals in Iraq and the recent U.S. peace treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan, community colleges can expect more veterans on their campuses in the near future. Many institutions are eager to serve these students but are not certain how to meet their needs. Veteran students contend with a range of issues, from the bureaucracy of…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the funding equitably across community college districts in Michigan. Pursuant to this investigation, the disproportionate effect that community college funding has on underserved populations was examined. This research utilized a quantitative approach, including descriptive statistics,…

There are more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) data science and analytics (DSA) jobs than qualified individuals to fill positions, indicating a gap that could be addressed if more women entered the STEM professions. To determine why women are underrepresented in these fields, this quantitative research examines the lived…

First-year STEM students often interpret academic challenges as diagnostic of belonging. Studies demonstrate that a social-belonging intervention helps undergraduates reframe belonging uncertainty as temporary and universal. We implemented this intervention with first-year engineering majors. In Study 1 (N = 284), we analyzed data from engineering…

There is a national shortfall of women and minorities in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Thus, it is imperative to understand the factors that impact students' decisions to pursue a STEM field of study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the impact of science self-efficacy beliefs of female high…

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of the lived experiences of African American women in STEM undergraduate degree programs at a 4-year degree granting institution in the southernmost part of central Virginia. The central problem is that there is disparity between the number of African American women with STEM…

The problem addressed in this study was that women experience barriers when pursuing an executive leadership role in the higher education setting. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers women have faced when pursuing or while currently in an executive-level position at college or university. The study utilized a conceptual framework of…

The diminishing number of African American teachers in our nation's classrooms is a growing concern. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how African American public charter school teachers with full, partial, or uncertified status describe their experiences of equity and access regarding compulsory teacher licensure exams.…

Using secondary data from a NY Kids comparative case study conducted in 2017-2018 of two positive outlier high schools, the purpose of this dissertation was to learn more about their discipline practices and the role secondary school leaders play in shaping those discipline systems. Two positive outlier high schools were studied, as they were…