This dialogic composition captures the interconnected experiences of two racialized doctoral students co-teaching a critical social work practice course in a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program parallel to undertaking a doctoral independent study on anti-racism and decolonizing curriculum and pedagogies. The undergraduate course sought to…

Postsecondary institutions are viewed as spaces where students can become exposed to different ways of thinking and "being" beyond their own subjective experiences (Gortmaker & Brown, 2006). Research has suggested that college-going queer women often characterize their universities as places where they can "be themselves"…

Despite the increasing attention given to veterans in higher education, few studies have explored the transitional experiences of women of color student veterans (WOCSVs). This study examines the gendered and racialized experiences of WOCSVs and the impact of their intersecting identities on the transition through higher education. Considering the…

Self-assessment involves students making judgements about their own learning. Self-assessment is promoted widely due to its benefits for lifelong learning. However, students often find self-assessment mechanical, useless and redundant -- indeed "inauthentic." This may partly result from understanding self-assessment as an instrumental…

Four themes within Life course theory will be explored. The interplay of human lives and historical times, the timing of lives, linked or interdependent lives, and human agency will be explored along with perspectives on gender, feminism, and intersectionality in order to examine current teaching challenges and impact on faculty and students by…

Black women have engaged through social media platforms, as a mechanism to uplift their embodiment, despite being relegated to the margins. The hashtag #BlackGirlMagic (BGM) is linked to narratives of Black women in higher education that are empowering and problematic. The development of the popular social media movement during a time when Black…

This study addressed Native American students' perceptions of their educational experiences, 142 years after the first federally-run, off-reservation Indian Boarding School opened, and their perceptions of how university staff, faculty, and administrators could better serve Native students. Qualitative interviews were conducted with five Native…

This study explored the impact of race on the higher education transition experiences of three groups of male student veterans: Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian. Grounded in the premise of Critical Race Theory, especially Cabrera's Hegemonic Whiteness and Yosso's Cultural Capital, we collected and analyzed 17 student veterans' in-depth interviews…

This dissertation is comprised of two separate manuscripts, which coalesce on the topic of interventions for Black students in educational settings. In the first chapter, I provide an overview of existing interventions that have been applied in different academic environments, particularly as they pertain to Black students in PK-12 and college…

Self-advocacy is emphasized as a critical practice for improving the retention and increasing the success of disabled students. In higher education, disability service offices and academic researchers jointly shape the conversation around what comprises effective self-advocacy. Students who are not engaging in these prescribed strategies are then…