Given the theorized importance of college belonging for academic success, we conducted a scoping review of studies examining relationships between sense of belonging and academic achievement and persistence for postsecondary students. In our scoping review, we included 69 reports (78 unique samples) published between 2003 and 2023. We observed an…

What do we, as women, give up? What does it mean to give up as a woman in academia? We explored this question through a study with women doctoral students to reframe giving up as a purposeful, willful act. Sara Ahmed describes willfulness in relation to women who are perceived as resisting norms, shifting away from normative expectations, refusing…

Community colleges are Black males' primary pathway to higher education. Less than a third of Black males, however, are likely to attain a certificate or degree within 6 years. Although no single intervention can formally improve their academic trajectory, interventions absent of culturally and gender-specific approaches and institutional…

The research conducted for this study explored the experiences of eight Latina college students and their stories of struggle and persistence in higher education Borderlands. This research was framed by LatCrit theory and the work of Chicana Feminist Epistemologists who investigated raced and gendered experiences and their relationship to power,…

This narrative inquiry study explored how higher education impacted undergraduate students' retention, focusing on first-generation college students (FGCS) of color at an urban public R1 university in the mid-South. A key objective was to understand these students' challenges today and how the intersection of their identities influenced their…

The growing visibility of transgender youth has led to increased attention on access to traditionally single-sex spaces--including those in higher education. One area that has sparked controversy is whether, and which, transgender students belong at women's colleges. To assess the current status of this issue, women's college policies around…

This chapter examines student success outcomes utilizing sexual and gender identity student data.

Research has shown that achieving gender equality in science goes beyond equal gender ratios in the classroom. Female students in science disciplines with relatively higher female participation rates (e.g. biology and chemistry) still experience similar gender issues as students in male-dominated science disciplines (e.g. physics and mathematics).…

Researchers explore factors that influence retention and persistence of queer and transgender students and examine retention and persistence among Black students. However, there is a dearth of retention and persistence scholarship centering the nuanced experiences of Black queer and transgender college students at the intersections of their…

Retention literature and concepts warrant examination through the lens of queer theory, a poststructural body of thought about sexuality and gender, to understand their implications for queer students. Five themes found in the retention literature are addressed from a queer perspective: framing retention as an economic and labor problem; campus…

While a significant minority cohort, Australian Aboriginal women are increasingly attending university. However, their experiences remain largely undocumented in the literature. This study focused on the experience of eight female Aboriginal students who completed an Indigenous-only bridging course where they watched the film, Educating Rita,…

The landscape of UK higher education (HE) has changed significantly over the past decades. Key shifts relate to the changing gender balance of the undergraduate student body and to emergent gender gaps in retention and attainment. Men are now less likely to access HE, complete their degrees or achieve 'Upper' degrees. There has been minimal…

Concerns about the academic performance of students from marginalized groups underscore calls for students to be taught by teachers of similar racial, ethnic, or gender identities (e.g., Miller, 2018). In sub-Saharan Africa, projects enlist women teachers as role models for girls in an effort to redress persistent gender disparities in education.…

Given that multiple forms of oppression are endemic to higher education, strategies intended to retain queer and trans college students should mirror the strategies of survival and thriving found within queer and trans communities. Fostering and bolstering connections, community, and kinship among queer and trans college students through a lens of…

Research and reports promote targeted interventions such as the undergraduate research experience to address issues with Black student retention and matriculation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The effectiveness of these interventions are purported to be their ability to foster strong associations between Black students and…