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As college and university continue to recruit and enroll more diverse student populations and maintain institutional priorities of diversity and inclusion, it is imperative we understand the distinct experiences of our minority populations. This research will specifically focus on the experiences of Black undergraduate females. To ensure the success of our Black females students, it is imperative we understand their need for a sense of belonging on a predominantly White campus in order to achieve higher-level opportunities of classroom and campus success. Sense of belonging is defined as the ability to connect, feel validated, accepted, and matter. This understanding is key to Black undergraduate females’ ability to successfully integrate academically and socially in their college environment. Existing research provides insight into the Black male experience, not limited to the challenges Black males face, as well as variables needed to enable Black males’ educational success. However, there is a general lack of awareness and attention to the nuanced experiences of our Black female students on predominantly White campuses. What challenges do Black females face and what factors can enable their educational success? This missed opportunity of understanding of their experiences limits faculty, staff, and administrators from creating an environment where Black females can succeed both inside and outside the classroom. This research gives voice to the experiences of this seemingly silent minority and challenges campus environments to address their operating norm of campus rituals and culture. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the experiences of nine Black undergraduate females at one predominantly White urban institution located in the North East. Through the use semi-structured interviews, this study seeks to understand in what ways Black female students’ understanding of self, relationship development, and engagement with their campus environment aids in the creation of their sense of belonging to their institution. Findings from this study demonstrate key components of belonging are rooted in understanding of self, and self in relation to others; the impact of participating in institutional programs; and the ability to navigate rules of engagement, both in the classroom and social environments. Participants demonstrate varying levels of belonging but provide key insight for higher education administrators to reflect upon their institutional programs, services, and opportunities to provide intentional space and place of support and ultimately find a place where they matter; their place of belonging. / Educational Leadership

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Utilizing a participatory action paradigm, this study guided advising administrators in the exploration of perceptions and practices pertaining to underrepresented undergraduate students’ persistence and success at elite liberal arts colleges. The study was conducted in Fall 2023 and consisted of participant recruitment through individual emails and a virtual interest survey, two and half hour learning and reflection sessions, and individual semi-structured interviews with seven self-selected advising administrators in the Consortium on Financing Education. Data were analyzed and coded through deductive and inductive processes. Findings align with and expand upon current research, with three themes identified. Advising administrators perceived barriers to graduation for underrepresented students, specifically interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers between and within staff and faculty and structural barriers that exist within institutions. Participants also perceived their positionality as guides, relationship builders, and advocates. Findings also suggest the impact of participatory action research due to validation and learning and empowered action for participants following the sessions. This study fulfilled a current gap in the literature as research pertaining to academic advising in higher education and underrepresented student experiences has not previously integrated advising practitioners in the research and change processes. It also furthered research understanding the work of advising administrators at elite institutions. / Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies

Black women leaders in higher education experience unique yet nuanced experiences within the academy that shape their access to leadership, impact their leadership journey, and influence perceptions of belonging. For Black women who hold the role of DEI leader at a predominately white institution (PWI) post the country’s 2020 racial reckoning and at the height of the influx of anti-DEI legislation; these lived experiences are amplified. As such, these amplified experiences create a unique phenomenon that is specific to the Black woman DEI leader serving at a PWI. The research question guiding this study is: have Black women DEI leaders navigating career progression in a PWI, post the social movement for racial justice, experienced an increased sense of belonging? To answer this question, this study focused on the lived experiences of discrimination, sense of belonging, and perceptions of institutional climate of this population amidst the backdrop of a contentious sociopolitical DEI climate and at the height of the anti-DEI legislation. This study collected data from 20 Black women higher education administrators who completed a Climate Survey and semi-structured interviews of three senior level DEI leaders. The Climate Survey was analyzed through frequency counts of Likert scaled questions and a deductive analysis of open-ended survey questions. Interview data were analyzed via a deductive and inductive coding scheme. The conceptual framework guiding this study consisted of intersectionality theory, Critical Race Theory, stereotype threat, and an emergent belonging framework which served as the interpretative lens for this study. Data analysis of this study rendered the quantitative data demonstrating that the majority of respondent continued to experience barred access to career advancement and identity discrimination post America’s 2020 racial reckoning. The themes and subthemes of the Climate Survey were: (1) Where Do I Belong: Perceptions of Climate, (1a) It’s Baked In: Institutional Culture and Norms, (1b) Code Switching a Necessity for Survival: Interactions with Others in Academia and (1c) The Struggle is Real: Frustration and Exhaustion All at the Same Time. Subsequent data analysis of the semi-structured interviews rendered the following themes: (1) Don’t “Dis” Me: Discrimination, Disrespect and Disregard and (2) Is it Just Me?: Hyper-Visibility and Invisibility. The study emphasized the relevance of the existing literature and research acknowledging that Black women administrators navigate leadership in predominately white spaces in higher education by normalizing the effects of systems within PWIs that perpetrate exclusion through resiliency. While these women describe challenging circumstances within their own lived experiences navigating their careers within the confines of a PWI, each of them, through resolute persistence, have managed to till the soil for a foundation to increase the representation of Black women within PWIs. / Educational Administration