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Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have provided academic and social support to Black students; however, with an increase in White students attending HBCUs, HBCU leaders have been challenged to acquire a better understanding of the White student population to increase their retention and graduation rates. This phenomenological project study addressed how White undergraduate students' participation in curricular and extracurricular activities influenced their academic success. The conceptual framework included elements from Astin's involvement theory and Helms's White racial identity development model. Eight White undergraduate students at a mid-size public HBCU were interviewed over 2 weeks. Exploratory analysis of one-one interviews and documents indicated minimal problems with peer-to-peer interaction or participation in extracurricular activities, but a slight disconnect between White students and faculty. Findings were used to develop a mentor program to improve relations between White students and faculty, which may increase White students' retention and graduation rates at the HBCU.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes that possibly influence the adjustment of white faculty at selected Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Texas. The results of this study may contribute to a research area that has not been thoroughly examined. The main objective of the study was to examine white faculty adjustment to their employment at an HBCU with respect to their interactions with the black student body, black faculty peers, black administrators, family and friends, commitment to HBCU missions, academic rank, tenure, age, and gender. The study was based on the perceptions and viewpoints of the white faculty members at four (4) HBCUs in Texas; three (3) small private liberal arts colleges and one (1) larger public university. A review of the literature indicated that little research has been conducted on the experiences of white faculty at HBCU, although white faculty members have been an integral part of the inception and evolution of these institutions. Interest in diversity within American higher education has grown in the past two decades and HBCUs have always been on the cutting edge of the practice of diversity. However, these institutions have been left out of the general discourse concerning diversity in American higher education. White faculty members can attest to the diversity, as well as to the pressures within the ivory walls of HBCUs. The findings of this study indicated that no category of white faculty attained an adjustment score that reflected a positive level of adjustment to the HBCU environment. The perceived attitudes of white faculty members’ parents proved to be more influential among the individual attributes than any other category. This inferred that parent attitudes more than any other attribute affected white faculty at HBCUs. The results from this current study may provide the foundation for new research with respect to white faculty at HBCUs. Suggestions for revisions were offered, including suggestions for further research with respect to minority-classified groups at various institutions of higher education. The results may possibly add to the discourse on multiculturalism and diversity in American higher education.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes that possibly influence the adjustment of white faculty at selected Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Texas. The results of this study may contribute to a research area that has not been thoroughly examined. The main objective of the study was to examine white faculty adjustment to their employment at an HBCU with respect to their interactions with the black student body, black faculty peers, black administrators, family and friends, commitment to HBCU missions, academic rank, tenure, age, and gender. The study was based on the perceptions and viewpoints of the white faculty members at four (4) HBCUs in Texas; three (3) small private liberal arts colleges and one (1) larger public university. A review of the literature indicated that little research has been conducted on the experiences of white faculty at HBCU, although white faculty members have been an integral part of the inception and evolution of these institutions. Interest in diversity within American higher education has grown in the past two decades and HBCUs have always been on the cutting edge of the practice of diversity. However, these institutions have been left out of the general discourse concerning diversity in American higher education. White faculty members can attest to the diversity, as well as to the pressures within the ivory walls of HBCUs. The findings of this study indicated that no category of white faculty attained an adjustment score that reflected a positive level of adjustment to the HBCU environment. The perceived attitudes of white faculty members’ parents proved to be more influential among the individual attributes than any other category. This inferred that parent attitudes more than any other attribute affected white faculty at HBCUs. The results from this current study may provide the foundation for new research with respect to white faculty at HBCUs. Suggestions for revisions were offered, including suggestions for further research with respect to minority-classified groups at various institutions of higher education. The results may possibly add to the discourse on multiculturalism and diversity in American higher education.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) lag behind predominantly White institutions in their production of online courses and degree programs because of nonexistent or inadequate technology training for faculty members and limited financial resources. The purpose of this qualitative comparative case study was to obtain insight into how decisions are made on technology deployment and integration of online programs at HBCUs. Guided by Donaldson's contingency theory, this case study addressed how decisions are determined at HBCUs to integrate online learning programs into the curriculum and how the individuals who make these decisions perceive online learning programs. Survey responses were collected from 16 administrators, chief information officers, and faculty department heads at 3 HBCUs. Frequency data from the surveys led to themes were confirmed by the analysis of interviews and campus documents. Emergent themes included the integration of online programs, interest in online learning, incentives/compensation and release time, mission and goal statements, strategic plans, and professional development. All 3 HBCUs have a process in place for measuring progress and updating strategic plans. Only 1 HBCU had incentives to encourage faculty or administrators to participate in technology deployment, although all 3 HBCUs offered professional development courses and seminars. Online learning was not included in any of the 3 HBCUs' mission and goal statements. Faculty interest in teaching online courses was high at 2 of the HBCUs. Among the implications of these findings for research and practice was the possibility of promoting positive social change through developing and applying improved strategies for technology deployment at HBCUs that might provide better services to students.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / In a thematic pattern of historical considerations, this study has made a critical and interpretive analysis of the development of teacher preparation at Bethune-Cookman College for the purpose of helping people in positions of responsibility to pattern the future growth of the College. There is a sense in which Bethune-Cookman College is a model for a utopian design in which the program of the College is recreated toward an educational potential for developing a teacher who may effectively deal with the problems of a crisis culture, on the one hand, and at the same time assist the Negro in lifting his self-image through education. The study taps the reservoirs of historical experience in order to reveal the problems of today in enlightening perspective. The study presses the point that the utopian design may emerge from such a perspective. Therefore, Bethune-Cookman College is demonstrated to be in a state of readiness for social reconstruction. Through the pragmatic method of writing history, the study proceeds thematically as follows: 1. It defines the influences of the plantation society of the ante-bellum period and the educational efforts of the postbellum period as they are residual in the present-day social-cultural milieu. 2. It observes the conditions surrounding the Negro teacher, particularly with regard to certain subtle practices of eidetic image, color visibility, and stigmas of oppression which depreciate self-esteem and breed inferiority. 3. It hypothesizes that education may be designed to give value to freedom of choice and decision-making; that freedom is the result of intelligent choice and is created by those who seek it; that the teacher must be liberated from an inferior selfimage and find security in self-esteem; that in the rich symbolisms of the background of the College, the personality and faith of the founder, and the cultural heredity derived from the history of the College, there is the potential for institutional fulfillment; that as the institution finds fulfillment, it may hopefully liberate those who study there; and that a liberated teacher is prepared to offer a liberalizing instructional program. 4. It elaborates on the possible outcomes of the hypothesized alternatives through responding to eight significant questions based upon eight human wishes: a. For the College's more effective partnership with social change b. For ways in which the College may promote cultural innovations for freedom c. For preserving values inherent in the present College plan through adding innovations that keep pace with cultural change d. For broadening the instructional curriculum to cope with crisis conflict e. For utilizing the symbolic philosophy and practices of the College to enrich its offerings toward the alleviation of sources of conflict f. For giving leadership to the search for futures and for developing advance preparation toward realizing the futures anticipated g. For developing a curriculum designed to remove the stigma of social deprivation from the presence of the Negro in society h. For utilizing the heart-head-hand philosophy as a symbolic guide toward lifting the self-image of the Negro. 5. It proposes ways of establishing the new design for teacher preparation, and for testing it out in positive social situations that relate to uses of the past and to the fulfillment of the predictable future. The study concludes that there are immeasureable possibilities for recreating Bethune-Cookman College to fulfill the new design that may transform the educational function of teacher education, not just for Bethune-Cookman College alone or just for the Negro group alone, but for all mankind. / 2999-01-01

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This study investigates African-American college students’ beliefs about foreign language learning, foreign language anxiety, motivations for language learning, and the extent to which the racial composition of a campus environment plays a role in those factors. 571 students across four universities completed three survey instruments: modified versions of the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (Horwitz, 1986), the Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand et al., 1992) respectively, the Foreign Language Classroom Academic Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986), and three open-ended questions on being African-American and learning a foreign language. Findings noted that one of three motivation factors for language learning was significantly different for campus environment. Post-hoc analyses indicated that participants at HBCUs were less likely to be the least motivated by short-term extrinsic goals for learning a foreign language than those at a PWI. African-American participants reported higher levels of foreign language anxiety than mixed groups of participants in previous studies and there were no significant differences in foreign language anxiety regarding campus environment and gender; but, there were significant differences for academic classification and the individual universities. Two of three motivation factors correlated with foreign language anxiety. Long Term Intrinsic: Discovery and Satisfaction—had a positive relationship with anxiety only at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), whereas, Short Term Extrinsic: Minimal Investment had a negative relationship with foreign language anxiety at both PWIs and HBCUs, This factor also had the highest relationship with anxiety. The beliefs analysis indicated that African-American college students across campus environments displayed more similarities in their beliefs about foreign language learning than differences. Findings also noted few differences when compared to prior studies with other language learner groups. The belief category “African-American Expectations,” noted that African-Americans strongly believe that they are capable of learning a foreign language, and that learning a foreign language would benefit them in the future. The open-ended questions provided a wide range of perspectives to several of the beliefs about language learning, as well as motivation and anxiety from African-American college students. One major theme that emerged from the analysis focused on pressures African-American students face in the foreign language classroom. / text

The research literature regarding African American male college students reports that they often experience difficulties with mathematics (Stage & Kloosterman, 1995; Treisman, 1992). It is also reported that many African American students enter college seeking to complete their degrees in mathematics and science, but few of these students successfully complete the core requirements (Hrabowski, Maton, & Greif, 1998; Treisman, 1992). In spite of these reported trends, there are some African American male students who, indeed, achieve in college mathematics. The purpose of this study was to analyze how being African American and male might play out in the college mathematics experiences of high-achieving African American men. Employing qualitative research methodology, specifically, multiple case study research (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Merriam, 1998) situated in critical race theory (CRT; Bell, 1992; Tate, 1997), I administered a survey instrument, conducted three interviews, and solicited artifacts from four African American men who are currently pursuing graduate degrees in mathematics or mathematics education. Coupling multiple case study research with CRT, I explored how they gained access to college mathematics, how they achieved in college mathematics, and how their race and/or racism affected their performance in mathematics. An analysis of the data revealed that the participants’ achievement and persistence in mathematics was explained, in part, by the participants’ (a) internal characteristics such as strong cultural identities as African American men, persistent attitudes, and spiritual connections; (b) ability to negotiate racial injustices as African American men; (c) positive mathematics identities developed as undergraduate mathematics majors at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); and (d) positive outlooks concerning the participation of African American male students in mathematics. Findings from the study suggest that methodological and theoretical approaches that foreground race and utilize “voice” must be employed in mathematics education research, especially regarding African American male students. Furthermore, findings suggest that those invested in the mathematics education of African American male students should ensure that African American male students are granted access to mathematics, including at the collegiate level.

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