Nationally, the attrition rate of doctoral students is high, and it is often attributed to a lack of support. In higher education, the attrition rate of doctoral Students of Color and other underrepresented populations is even greater. This article briefly reviews the structure of one cohort model doctoral program and its impact on the overall experiences of six members. The six women, referred to as Weekend Warriors, retrospectively share personal and professional experiences and common themes that amalgamated through their dissertation research explained through applied critical leadership. This article also conveys how the Weekend Warriors organized into a writing group, which ultimately supported the completion of the doctoral program and fostered continued growth in social justice leadership.
This interpretative phenomenological analysis study focused on the way that children of student affairs professionals make meaning of their parents’ work. A purposive sample of 11 children at two institutions, ages 8 to 15, was interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Data were analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological approach, inductively looking for themes to emerge. Results demonstrated that (a) children acknowledge the “learning” moments, (b) children perceive the parent as a caring helper, (c) children value the importance of relationships, and (d) children internalize the bad days of the parent. The results of this study launch a new body of research on the intersection between student affairs work and parenting. Through listening to the voices of children, both professional student affairs practice and work/life coexistence can improve.
Sexual assault on college campuses has become an epidemic requiring institutions to respond. Through Title IX, all educational institutions receiving federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education must have a Title IX coordinator and must respond to allegations of sexual assault. Little specific guidance for how to appropriately conduct an investigation of alleged sexual assault and harassment can be found in the mandates of Title IX. The authors offer a pilot model that can be used by interviewers conducting an investigation in which the victim is not re-traumatized or provided with negative reactions and that takes into account the emotional needs of the investigator. The CARING model focuses on skills necessary for interviewing individuals involved in sexual assault cases and on helping the helper.
In Parenting to a Degree: How Family Matters for College Women’s Success, Laura T. Hamilton delves into the lives of young undergraduate women and the diverging roles parents play in their personal...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of women in the Sistah Network, an affinity group at a predominantly White institution, with mentoring goals to enhance the educational and social experiences of Black women in master’s and doctoral programs and their mentors. The authors interviewed 18 women (faculty, staff, and students), conducted observations at Sistah Network meetings, and analyzed exit ticket data to get insight on how the program influenced the academic and social experiences of the women. Critical race theory and Black Feminist Thought were used as theoretical frameworks to interpret the findings. Findings suggest four main themes: (a) the Sistah Network advances identity and empowerment, (b) the Sistah Network contributes to social advantages, (c) the Sistah Network affords emotional benefits, and (d) the Sistah Network promotes academic success. Findings suggest that efforts can be made to implement and sustain variations of mentoring programs for this population of women and other marginalized groups.
How women understand and practice leadership is a growing focus in research and in practice. This study was the first of its kind to examine different variables that drive college women’s leadership self-efficacy. The researchers sought to identify which of the 19 capacities of emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL) are significant drivers of college women’s leadership self-efficacy. Four EIL capacities emerged as significant: initiative, facilitating change, developing relationships, and managing conflict. The findings and discussion include specific strategies to support college women’s leadership development and suggest further exploration of gender disparities in college student leadership development.
In her new book, Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide, Torie Weiston-Serdan offers an alternative to traditional, power-based mentoring relationships, which she calls critical mentoring. Weiston-S...
Despite the positive effects of cross-racial interactions for students, predominantly White sororities remain segregated. Utilizing focus group methods, this study investigates the racial attitudes of White sorority women to understand the influence of sororities on racial attitudes. Findings revealed that participants in this study minimized race, thought about diversity within context, and perceived barriers to cross-racial interactions. These findings have important implications for campus professionals who work with sorority women.
The conversation about trans* college students can finally move beyond discussions of bathrooms. Nicolazzo’s book described the experiences of nine collegians on a campus marked by the twin cultura...
This article presents findings from an exploratory study of whether and how gender-based patterns were present in faculty members’ departmental networks. A network analysis approach was used to identify if women and men had ties to their departmental colleagues in similar patterns and for similar purposes. Findings from the analysis of network survey and interview data with 19 faculty members in two academic departments suggest that some participants held gendered expectations of collegial support and that perceptions of gender roles may have influenced departmental work and relationships. Gender was salient for women in ways that did not shape the experiences of men in the same departments. There was a tendency for participants to connect to colleagues who were women for teaching-related purposes more than for research purposes or other reasons. Faculty members’ relationships with their colleagues may be shaped by their own gender-based assumptions and behaviors as well as those of their colleagues. These differences across gender led to different networks of relationships for various functions of colleagueship, which participants used to obtain different resources that were important for their career success.
The culture of sport has historically reinforced hegemonic notions of gender. Both intercollegiate and professional sports in the United States are male-dominated in employment numbers and leadership positions. This raises concerns about the professional work environment women will encounter in their careers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of sexism among kinesiology students who will be entering the male-dominated sports workplace. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) was used to measure sexism (hostile and benevolent) among students enrolled in kinesiology-related majors at a large public university in the southeastern United States. Men scored significantly higher than women on both subscales. Undergraduate students also scored significantly higher than graduate students. Overall, the mean scores in this study were higher than those reported previously for other college student populations. The findings suggest considerable hostile and benevolent sexism among these students.
Researchers have identified some of the factors that inhibit the success of mothers in academia, including overt and covert discrimination, inequitable teaching and service assignments, and the lack of policies that support combining motherhood and academic work. Pretenure mothers are particularly vulnerable, as they attempt to balance increasing demands for achieving tenure and the overlap of the tenure and biological clocks. In addition to further exploring these factors, this phenomenological study of 10 women counseling professors considered the impact of rising cultural expectations related to motherhood. Results of this study revealed that combining pretenure academic work and motherhood seems to be increasingly more challenging. Themes highlighted include instances of incompatibility in academic and motherhood roles and barriers in academic culture. Also provided are positive aspects of academic motherhood, strategies for success under current cultural and academic systems, and suggestions for advocacy efforts to further support faculty mothers.
Much warranted attention over the past few decades has been devoted to the problem of retaining women faculty in academe, particularly in areas where they are poorly represented such as in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This study uses descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling techniques to identify factors related to STEM women faculty members' intention to leave. Findings revealed several significant pathways and provide insight into this critical issue. Implications of the findings, in connection with extant research and higher education practices, are discussed.
This qualitative study utilizes feminist media analysis to examine the depiction of college women in the U.S. TV show Greek. Overall women engage in and graduate from higher education at rates greater than men, but representations of higher education in popular culture tend to minimize women’s intellectual engagement within the academy. Our findings focus on two themes emerging from our analysis: that of the show’s depiction of college women as “intellectual-lite” through portrayals of their limited and stereotypical interests, and their depictions as “knowers,” portrayed through the ways they make sense of college and how they engage in it. As artifacts of popular culture, such as TV shows, provide templates of college student identity and behaviors for viewers, we close with recommendations to challenge continuing misrepresentations within personal and institutional practice in higher education by suggesting ways to recognize and counter these messages.
A qualitative case study with 18 non-traditional age undergraduate Women of Color yielded rich data about strategies they employed to cope with racial microaggressions on a predominantly White campus. Women first decided if, and how, to “pick their battles” based on how much time and emotional energy they had left after fulfilling familial and full-time employment responsibilities. Then, they drew upon six different coping strategies to respond to racial microaggressions. Implications and recommendations are provided.
An extensive ethnographic and phenomenological qualitative study, Shabana Mir???s Muslim American Women on Campus: Undergraduate Social Life and Identity expertly guides the reader through narratives...
Using participant observation and interview data, the author explores interactional styles that men and women chemists-in-training (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) use to navigate expertise within their research groups. The author finds that men are more likely than women to employ styles that feature their expertise when in group situations, while women are more likely to minimize theirs. Specifically, the author discusses peer-to-peer challenges and gender differences in self-deprecating comments, as well as the consequences of these tactics for success in the natural sciences.
Given that individual and institutional characteristics are suggested to work collectively in promoting optimal student success, the purpose of this quantitative study was to understand factors that contribute to the success of Black college women at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Of particular interest was the relationship between self-reported gains of Black women and the level of social integration and student involvement these women reported. The College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) was used to analyze a purposeful sample of 736 Black undergraduate women who completed the survey between 2005 and 2010. Statistical analyses, including multiple regression tests and Pearson product moment correlations, were conducted to examine relationships between social integration, student involvement, and self-reported gains. Results of the analyses indicated that each of the variables was positively correlated, statistically significant, and that social integration had a stronger relationship to each of the self-reported gains factors than student involvement.
This phenomenological study explored the intersecting privileged (racial) and oppressed (gender) identities of eight White college women. Through three interviews, this study aimed to understand how the participants experience socially conflicting identities. Findings indicated that the participants felt more connected to their gender than their race. In addition, participants experienced dissonance when considering how their gender and racial identities work to form a holistic self. Implications for student affairs research and practice are shared.
