Increasing the percentage of adults with a college credential is paramount to sustaining our economic competitiveness. One strategy that has potential to help achieve the goal of increased postsecondary degree production is dual enrollment, which allows high school students to enroll in college-level courses for credit that can be applied…

The underrepresentation of racial minorities and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is a national concern. Goal theory provides a useful framework from which to understand issues of underrepresentation. We followed a large sample of high-achieving African American and Latino undergraduates in STEM…

The scant literature on persistence of African American males in science typically takes a deficits-based approach to encapsulate the myriad reasons this population is so often underrepresented. Scientist Identity, Mentoring, and Campus Climate have, individually, been found to be related to the persistence of African American students. However,…

The current study examined the role of AP® Exam participation and performance on four-year college graduation in four years. Because students who take AP Exams can earn college credit while still in high school, it was expected that AP students would have higher four-year graduation rates. Moreover, it was expected that AP students who earned…

Non-traditional nursing students, including Vietnamese Americans often face challenges that differ from those of their white counterparts. These challenges have significant impact on academic success and contribute to underrepresentation of minorities in nursing. This study explored the lived experience of 12 Vietnamese American undergraduate…

In the fall of 2008, the authors contacted a representative sample of over 3,600 high schools in the U.S., both public and private, to determine whether or not physics was taught there. The authors received responses from over 99% of the schools. For the schools which indicated they were offering physics, they obtained contact information for the…

Though relatively little research has focused on the use of spiritual resources, previous research has found that traditional cultural practices and spiritual resources may contribute to persistence, although no studies, to date, focus on the role that gospel choir involvement plays in the success of Black collegians at PWIs. Using data collected…

Despite decades of efforts to achieve gender equity in political life, women remain underrepresented in nearly all levels of government. In this paper, we explore the experiences offered by women who have been elected to local government in the province of British Columbia, Canada, to illustrate the persistence of gendered discourses and…

This essay looks to Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) for strategies that can be implemented in order to combat contemporary neoliberal attacks against the programmatic and institutional spaces of basic writing within Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Working from Nedra Reynolds' notion of thirdspace-oriented "dwelling"…

In this essay, the author analyzes two theoretical perspectives--incorporation and abjection--that inform official knowledge generally and high school American history textbooks specifically. While contemporary textbooks increasingly depict the experiences of historically marginalized groups such as women, African Americans, Latinos, American…

This paper considers the coercive sterilization of Aboriginal women in legislated and non-legislated form in Canada. I provide an historical and materialist critique of coercive sterilization. I argue for coercive sterilization to be understood as one of many policies employed to undermine Aboriginal women, to separate Aboriginal peoples from…

In this article, the authors capture the complexity of being a marginalized individual with institutional authority who encourages students to question all levels of power; simultaneously, they are acutely aware of the social implications of students challenging their authority, their intellectual aptitude, and their critical orientation. They…

Members of racial and ethnic minority groups earn doctoral degrees at rates far below what is expected given their representation in the doctoral-age population. This research expands our understanding of the experiences of Black doctoral students who persist and their post-Ph.D. career aspirations. Using the semi-structured, in-depth interviewing…

The Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics conducts an annual census of all degree-granting physics departments in the United States and Puerto Rico. The survey had a 95% response rate from the 751 departments that granted physics bachelor's degrees in the class of 2010. Results show that the number of physics bachelor's…

This evidenced-based study was conducted using a systemic review of the literature to verify scholarly consensus about the effectiveness of mentoring as an intervention to impact college completion for underrepresented students in a community college setting. The study explored the impact of having access to mentors for the target population:…