Equity in action starts with a leader's critical consciousness in relation to their identities, ideologies, and positionalities. In this essay, the following factors: ideologies, identities, and positionalities are explained and emphasized as they are essential factors that impact equity work. Leaders who center equity must explore their own…

Recent policy changes like AB 705 and 1705 have drastically changed curriculum, course offerings, and placement practices in community college ESL departments across California (Rodriguez, et al., 2022; Shaw, et al., 2018). Though many large-scale studies have examined transfer, completion and throughput rates (David & Kanno, 2021; Hayward, et…

The factors of identities, positionalities, and ideologies are critical on how leaders lead, guide, engage, and communicate with their constituencies to create equitable learning experiences for students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain understanding of the experiences of three Asian American community college presidents'…

Military veterans make up a growing proportion of students attending community colleges. Current research shows that some veterans do not transition easily from the service into a higher education setting. One possible reason for this is that the military purposefully creates and sustains its service members' culture. This culture can be retained…

This qualitative dissertation critically analyzes proposed and enacted state-level, tuition-free college legislative documents. Taking a three-article approach to the research, this study adds to the recent literature of tuition-free programs focusing on program design characteristics and the inequitable outcomes for students. The first article…

The category of "English as a Second Language" or "ESL" student is no longer a label of someone in the process of learning English. Rather, linguistic categorization is a complex social processes of ascribed identity formation that positions students as deficits and others, circumscribing them out of belonging to both academic…

In spite of years of sociolinguistic research establishing that all language varieties are valid and equal, there is a disconnect between this knowledge and pedagogical practices at the college level. Certain Englishes, particularly those of minoritized speakers, are stigmatized, and "standard" English is upheld as the goal of writing…

At the community college, diversity is an overarching institutional goal, yet it remains elusive, especially in the full-time faculty ranks. This dissertation explored the individual and systemic barriers to hiring faculty of color. A phenomenological approach was used to examine the community college full-time faculty search process from the…

White space in the educational system is an attitude, environment, ideology dominated by the white dominant voice and creed. This white space intimidates and oppresses Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students, not only physically but mentally and emotionally. This research provides solutions to help instructors decenter white space. In…

This dissertation study was guided by two research questions: (1) What shapes community college mathematics faculty members' set of racialized ideologies, beliefs, and attitudes that inform their behaviors and teaching practices in the virtual classroom?; and (2) How do the racial and virtual classroom dynamics shape the ways mathematics faculty…

This study uses the Ideology, Pedagogy, Access, and Equity (IPAE) tenets of critical self-examination (Alfaro & Hernandez, 2016) and the construct of critical consciousness (Darder, 2018; Darder, 2015; Freire, 1973; Freire, 1970; Watts, Deimer, & Voight, 2011; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999) as a conceptual framework to explore…

This study uses the Ideology, Pedagogy, Access, and Equity (IPAE) tenets of critical self-examination (Alfaro & Hernandez, 2016) and the construct of critical consciousness (Darder, 2018; Darder, 2015; Freire, 1973; Freire, 1970; Watts, Deimer, & Voight, 2011; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999) as a conceptual framework to explore…

This qualitative study explored the systemic barriers to hiring faculty of color in the community college. A phenomenological design was used to examine the community college full-time faculty search process from the perspective of 10 full-time faculty of color who actively participate in racial justice advocacy. The participants represented five…

As racialized institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions educate large portions of racially minoritized students within organizational and policy structures that advance Whiteness. This research considers how the institution-level diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans, produced in response to state-level DEI policies in Florida,…

Americans are increasingly divided in their views on higher education, often in alignment with their political affiliations. This study examines how perspectives on one of the most pressing issues in higher education, college affordability, differ across political ideologies. For our analysis, we exploit an original dataset of text appearing on…